A Gifted Child
by Ori
Summary: One does not become ruthless and cold over night. A story about Seto Kaiba's childhood when he was still a happy little kid and how he changed to who he is in the show.
1. Somewhere in the Sky

My first try on a Yugioh fic so please be easy on me.

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Disclaimer: No, I don't own Yugioh.

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**Chapter One – Somewhere in the Sky**

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Seto Kaiba opened his eyes in the game pod. As his eyes came into focus he found himself at the middle of a chaotic testing room. "Trying to find Mokuba no doubt," he mused. He lips curled into a sheepish smile as he glanced down at the card inserter. It was empty – his little brother had always been a quick thinker. "It was awfully foolish of them to not to unplug me while they had the chance," he thought sadistically as he slowly climbed out of the game pod. "Arrogance was their down fall. They had completely underestimated his little brother and himself."

He sneered. "Morons."

He stood up finally and studied his surrounding closely. He took note of the opened vent fondly.His brothermust have escaped through the vent. "No more James Bond or Mission Impossible for Mokuba," he mentally noted. Escaping out of the building through the ventilating system was a bit too much of a cliché for his liking, but it was efficient, he decided.

Slowly he walked to a closed door at the back of the testing room. He entered the codes and the door slid open. Inside was the heart of the virtual reality game – the computer controlling the virtual reality game. He quickly turned on the monitor and began to go through the computer codes thatmade up the program. As expected, they were very different from what he wrote,the program had been sabotaged. He would have to rewrite a big chunk of the program later, thanks to those idiots. They weregoing to pay for what they did – after he was positive about his little brother's safety.

"Big brother are you here?" the familiar voice answered his question.

The voice definitely belonged to his brother. Seto quickly swirled around. "Mokuba," he said with a rare sincere smile.

His little brother ran and hugged him. Mokuba quickly pulled away, looked up and asked in a worry tone, "Seto, you are not mad at me are you? I really didn't know who to ask for help. Yugi and his friends are the only ones who I could think of." Seto's smile disappeared at the mention of Yugi's name and was silent. Mokuba looked on anxiously.

Finally Seto replied, "I am not particularly happy with your choice of help…" Mokuba looked at the floor guiltily. "But…" Seto smiled. His little brother looked up in surprise. "If it wasn't for yourdecisionI would not have made it out of the game.As much as I hate to admit it, Yugi did help us out of the mess."

"What are we going to do with those creeps?"

"Oh plenty. They are going to pay for what they did don't you think?" Seto replied with a sinister smirk.

"They sure are," Mokuba exclaimed with the same sinister smile.

"Their jobs are gone for sure… but as I said before, they should have left before I get really mad. Now they are going to loose more than their jobs for trying to eliminate me."

Mokuba was silent for a while before adding uneasily, "As long as no one is killed."

"Kill them?" Seto asked in a surprise tone. He laughed. "No, Mokuba that thought never hit me. Five deadrich men will create quite a challenge to cover up. I don't want the government to come after me for murders do I? Besides, no one will disagree with me about the fact that I am the rightful owner of the Kaiba Corporation now that those morons are gone."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I am thinking of stealing, or rather, taking back forcefully a few years worth of wager from their European accounts to undo all the damages they did to Kaiba Crop… These days everything is running on computers and as I said before there's not one computer I cannot hack into."

Mokuba laughed.

"It's already five, Mokuba. You better start doing your homework," Setoannounced suddenly.

The young boy groaned. "Big brother can't I do them later?"he pleaded.

"You have more than a week worth of homework to catch up on Mokuba. And the school only have that much tolerance on our regular absences. If we can't show them we can still keep up in school we might be in deep trouble. So unless you did all of them in advance, which I doubt, you will need to start now," the elder boy replied sharply.

Mokuba only groaned, after all, his brother was final on that topic and there was no way of getting out of it. "But what are you going to be doing?"

"Nine pages of math, prepare for a Japanese dictation, and a science essay, basically all the homework _I_ haven't done in advance," Seto replied. He allowed himself so much as to make a face.

Seto opened his math book and took out his notebook and pencil. He would much rather do math on computer but his teacher made it clear he wanted nothing but hand written work. He looked at the first question for a moment and effortlessly wrote down the answer and all the "work". The teacher insisted that unless the complete break down of the questions was written along with the answers he would not mark the paper. He said the "work" was educational and proved you actually know who to solve the question. The rule was a drag but there was no way of getting out of it.

Neat clusters of numbers and symbols, so neat that it was hard to believe a boy wrote it, quickly filled pages in the exercise book. Running a company had taught him to write neatly. Even though most documents were typed up on computer, some very important parts still required being hand written. If one of his sixes were mistaken as zeros in some important document that could mean a lot of trouble.

Two hours past before he stopped writing. He dropped the pencil and moved his stiff fingers. The nine pages of math homework were done. "A bit too slow," Seto mused. Of course, considering that most of his classmates took at least half hour each day for seven days just to finish the same nine pages he was exceptionally fast, but math had always been an easy subject for Seto.

Afterall, he was a gifted child.

* * *

_"How is your wife?" asked a fat old lady living across the street._

_"She is fine. She keeps complaining about stomach aches but the doctor said that they are normal," replied a black haired man._

_"Ah I remember those pains… When is she due?" _

_"In a month Mrs. Hida," _

_Mrs. Hida smiled. "Is it going to be a boy or a girl?"_

_"My wife wanteda surprise, so she told the doctor to not tell us," _

_"Well then dear do you hope for a girl or a boy?" the old lady asked gently._

_The man smiled and thought for a moment before replying, "A girl would be good, not that I don't want a boy but we already have one."_

_"Of course," said Mrs. Hida in her soft voice, "You are already blessed with young Seto. He is such a sweet little boy, so bright too. You are a very lucky man, you do know that don't you? No everyone get to be the parent of a genius."_

_Seto's father laughed. "I suppose not."_

_"Is Seto excited about the baby?" _

_"Very. He is really excited. He is totally ready to be a big brother," Seto's father said with a chuckle._

_"That's always good to hear. I am sure he will be a really good brother when the baby comes." Mrs. Hida smiled, "He is such a gentle child." _

* * *

_Beep… Beep… Beep…_

_The doctors all looked grim. The situation was not good. As little as the doctors would like to admit it, the woman's life was slipping from their fingers. All had acknowledged the two percent chance of uterine rupturing during a virginal birth after a caesarean birth but none had expected that to happen.It did, and now both the baby and the woman were in grave danger. A __caesarean section was immediately called on. The baby was taken out and was revived. Unfortunately, the woman continued tolose her blood at an alarming rate. _

_It was amazing how she was still half-conscious. _

_The doctors did not tell the woman or her husband about the situation in any coherency, but the twofigured everything out by the frantic shouts and sharp orders from the head doctors. They knew something was horribly wrong. The helpless husband could do nothing but squeezing her wife's hand in an assuring, soothingmanner."You are going to be okay, Yuki."_

_The woman managed a weak smile but from her husband's worried face she could tell he was not all sure._

_"It's a boy," they were told by a nurse, however the baby was never shown to the couple, instead he wasimmediately rushed to the intensive care._

_"The boy… call him Mokuba," the woman managed to mutter, with her eye closed. "It hurts."_

_"Hold on, you are going to be okay," the husband replied._

_He got no reply from his wife…_

_Beep…_

* * *

_"Your son will be fine… Mr. Takashi," said the doctor, "He will be out of the intensive care unit tomorrow."_

_Mr. Takashi nodded silently, absentmindedly. His eyes were swollen with the lack of sleep._

_"I am sorry about your wife," added the doctor awkwardly. _

_A lone tear fell from the man's solemn face. "You did your best."_

_The door opened abruptly, the two men turned quickly toward the door so they could end the grave conversation. A brown haired child, no more than five poked his head in. With a slight smile of relief and exclaimed, "Father!"_

_"Why are you here, Seto?" asked Mr. Takashi sternly. "Didn't I tell you to stay outside?"_

_The boy looked abashed for a moment. He replied with a hint of guilt and embarrassment, "I am thirsty. I wanted to ask you if I can buy apple juice."_

_The father's eyes softened. He sighed and handed the boy some money. "Here."_

_Seto took the money and began to walk out of the room. He stopped suddenly. "Where is mother?"_

_Silence._

_"In the sky."_

_"In the sky?" the muttered in confusion. He frowned. "Why? When will she come back?"_

_The father could not answer the question because he was weeping. The doctor stood up and gently pushed the boy out of the room, "Go along to get your drink my boy. I have to talk to your father a bit more." With one graceful motion he closed the door behind, leaving the young boy alone, outside in the white hall way lit by fluorescent light._

_The boy looked at the money in his hand and slowly and walked to the window to look at the sky with no mother in sight.__

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Not the end

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Many thanks for reading. Review! 


	2. The Withered Daisy

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.

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**Chapter Two – The Withered Daisy**

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Math class – one of the most hated classes in Domino High School. Some hated the class because the numbers and symbols made no sense to them. For others their dislike originated from the lack of interest. For still others it was because of the dullness and repetitiveness. 

"And therefore the answer to this question should be?" the teacher asked and scanned the classroom for raised hand.

Silence. Not a soul moved.

The teacher expected that reaction, after teaching math for ten long years it was hard not to. He scanned the room again, this time for students not paying attention. Everyone suddenly found extreme interest in their math books – everyone, except for one. "Mr. Kaiba?"

Seto jumped. "Yes?" He lazily glanced up at the board and saw a question. He calculated the question in his mind quickly.

"The answer," the teacher said sternly. "You should pay atten– "

"Two thousand seven hundred thirty three."

The teacher paused to look at his answer key. Henodded reluctantly, "Correct."

Seto smirked.

The teacher scanned the room again. This time he found another person not paying attention, "Mr. Wheeler what is the answer to question sixty-four?"

"What?" Joey asked frantically as he snapped back into reality. He quickly corrected himself, "I mean…" he looked at the questions in the math book. There was no sixty-four. He should have paid more attention. He decided to take a wild guess. "Six thousand four hundred thirty six."

"That's incorrect because there's no question sixty-four. You see me after class. I suggest you pay attention for the rest of the class before you have double detentions."

Seto smirked again.

"It's so not fair man, Kaiba didn't pay attention either. How come I was the only one getting detention," Joey complained to his friends after school.

"Yeah I know exactly what you mean. The same thing happened to me in science class," Tristan said sympathetically.

"It's like the teachers favour him over everyone else or something," commented Joey bitterly.

"And look at all his school absences. He keeps missing school and he never gets in trouble," Tristan cried.

"I say he pays the teachers. I mean a cheap guy like him surely wouldn't find that wrong," Joey said sourly.

"You guys that's enough," cried Yugi.

"Why?" asked Joey and Tristan simultaneously.

"Kaiba is not exactly the nicest person in the world but gossiping will not help the matter at all," Yugi explained.

"What will Yugi? For god's sake that guy didn't even thank us when we saved his life! Besides, what did we say that he didn't deserve?" asked Joey.

"I think Yugi is right guys," reasoned Tea, "these gossips will certainly not help the situation. I say next time, you guys should just pay attention in class."

"Well I was just saying it's not fair," Joey said sulkily, "And I did pay attention most of the time, Tea. I was just giving my brain a short rest. Kaiba was the one who paid no attention in class."

It was at that moment when Tristan noticed someone not far away from them. "Um Joey? May be you should stop…"

"Tristan you are turning away from me too eh? I just don't get you guys. I tell you Kaiba did pay those teachers. He – "

"I what, Wheeler?" interrupted a cold voice behind Joey.

Joey knew right away who was behind him. He laughed nervously as he slowly turned around. "Oh hi Kaiba! I didn't know you eat lunch at school…"

"I what, Wheeler?" repeated the tall brown haired teenager.

"Um… nothing… listen I forgot but I have to go somewhere," Joey said as he slowly backed away.

"You didn't look too busy when you were talking about me, Joey. So please stay and tell me what was in your mind," Setoretorted icily."Or are you too scare to face me you pathetic scared little doggy." He smirked.

"I didn't think you have any rights to call me pathetic Kaiba," Joey snapped, his voice draping with acid. "After all, you were the one who fell right into the cooperate giants' obvious trap. If it weren't for Yugi and me you would have been trapped in that virtual reality world of yours."

"I never asked for your help," Seto hissed. "So tell me, Wheeler what were you saying about me?"

Joey growled. "I was commenting on how a cheater like you would gladly pay the teachers to get out of troubles," Joey commented dryly.

"For your information, Wheeler, I, unlike you, never thought about such things. I answered every single question that the teachers threw at me correctly." Setochuckled and turned around. "Unlike you."

"Jerk!" Joey shouted. His friends held him back from fighting. "Just let…me…go!"

"Calm down Joey! You don't want to get sent to the principle office for fighting some teachers' pet do you?" cried Tristan.

"Tristan is right. You really shouldn't fight," said Yugi.

Joey grumbled.

"Joey you really don't want to get another detention!" cried Tea.

Of course, calling Seto a teachers' pet would not be appropriate. He never acted like one. He never offered any teachers any help. He never paid any attention in class. He never answered any questions in class voluntarily. Despite all that, however, teachers liked him, after all, who would not like to brag about teaching a rich child prodigy?

* * *

_"Class take our your math book," said the young teachers. She was a pretty teacher, young and pretty. Her features were so delicate they looked like flowers. _

_All thirty little kids clumsily got their math book out from their backpack. "Page twenty-six class," added the teacher. The children clumsily turned their math book to page twenty-six. "Today we are going to learn about two digit addition," the teacher announced in an excited voice._

_Even in the young age of six the students learned to hate math, they all groaned._

_The teacher smiled in sympathy. "Don't worry. It's very easy and I am sure all of you are going to get the hang of it really quickly."_

_Everyone groaned again._

_"We will start with some easy stuff first," said Miss Hisakawa with a smile, "Hikari what is four plus six?" _

_A girl in a red skirt looked at his fingers and after a moment she said, "Ten."_

_"Really good," said the teacher happily. She took out a jar full of lollipops, took a red one out and handed it to Hikari. She looked around the room again. "Akio? What is seven plus two?" the teacher asked as she paced around the room._

_A boy in a blue sweater wiggled his fingers and finally said, "Nine."_

_"Correct!" Miss Hisakawa said joyously as she handed the boy a green lollipop. The boy greedily took it. "It seems that you guys know your math quite well so I will start teaching you new stuff," said the teacher as she walked toward the black board. She wrote a question on the board: 45+6_

_"Does anyone know the answer to this question?" she asked._

_Silence, no one moved._

_The young teacher continued to smile. "The answer is fifty-one. You can get this by just adding one side at a time, so in a way this is like two easy questions put together…" her voice trailed off when she noticed one of her student was drawing in his notebook, not listening. She stared at the student silently._

_The rest of the class soon caught on to the tension and they all turned and stared at the boy in suspense. The boy finally looked up after about thirty seconds of silence and intense stares. He gulped._

_"Seto Takashi!" cried Miss Hisakawa, "you must pay attention in class."_

_Young Seto gulped again._

_The teacher sighed. "Do any of you know why I want you to pay attention?" _

_Silence._

_"I want you to learn. If you know everything already I have no objection to you not paying attention in class! School is only going to get harder and if you don't listen now you won't understand the harder questions." The young woman paused. She thought for a moment before adding carelessly, "If you know the answer to a question like two thousand four hundred sixty-five times twenty then I would not mind you drawing in your note book at all, Seto." _

_Silence._

_"Do you under– "_

_"Forty-nine thousand three hundred," said the brown haired boy quietly._

_"What?" cried the young woman, surprised. She didn't expect an answer._

_"Forty-nine thousand three hundred," repeated Seto._

_Miss Hisakawa gasped as she realized the boy was giving her the answer. She knew he was right but she could not help but take out her calculator and punched in the question she gave out. The answer was right. It was forty-nine thousand three hundred. Her jaw dropped._

_"Four hundred fifty-six divided by thirty two?" she asked. The thought of the possibility of having a child prodigy in her class slowly materialised in her head. She decided to ask another question; just to be sure that it was not blind luck._

_Seto blinked. He was starting to get scared by his teacher's reaction. "Um… well… four…fourteen and twenty-five hundredth?" he stuttered. _

_"Seto I want to see your father after school." _

_In herdismay sheforgot to give him a lollipop._

_

* * *

_

_"Mr. Takashi I want to talk about your child's education. Your son Seto is doing a fine job in hiding his knowledge. He hardly talked in class but today he finally did. I cannot believe him but he answered some pretty hard math questions right."_

_Seto felt his face burn. Mr. Takashi laughed at his son's expression and replied lightly, "He have always been that way…"_

_"Have you ever consider putting Seto is an older class? It would be better for him," said Miss Hisakawa, almost excitedly._

_"I had," replied Mr. Takashi. Seto stared at his father bewilderedly._

_"So why didn't you?" the young woman asked anxiously._

_"Because I knew how scary it is to be different. I wanted to respect my son's own wish. He didn't want to skip grades. He told me he would rather go to school like everyone else," said Mr. Takashi. Seto could not help but smile in relieve._

_The teacher shook her head disapprovingly. "Are you sure a decision like this should be made by a six year old?"_

_"I do," Mr. Takashi replied calmly, "I believe that if my son does not want to skip grades I should respect his decision and not force him into it. I also have worries about bulling that might happen if I let you put my son in a few grades ahead." His voice was final._

_Miss Hisakawa thought for a moment and finally asked, "I suppose you are right… but would you mind… would you mind if I give Seto harder work and perhaps tutor him after school?"_

_"I have not objection to that. Ask my son. Would you mind Seto?" Mr. Takashi smiled at his son._

_Seto looked at his father and then at his teacher. He hesitated, considered for a moment then shook his head at the end. He said quietly, "No, I would not."

* * *

_

_"I was thinking perhaps we can start on some very simple algebra today what do you say?" asked Miss Hisakawa._

_Seto nodded silently._

_Miss Hisakawa smiled. "Well algebra is basically a alphabet that is use to represent an unknown number. I can use it on any sort of question really, and these questions don't have to be hard. For example if I have no idea how many flowers there are in a pot but I know that the number of flowers times four plus two take away six is eighty I can find out how many I have. The unknown number of flowers can be called x but it can also be called any other alphabets. Do you get all I am saying right now?" asked the young teacher._

_"Yes," Seto said softly. "Can I ask you a question Miss Hisakawa?"_

_The young woman nodded kindly. _

_"Why do you always use flowers in your examples?" asked the young child._

_"You don't like flowers? I can use other things in my examples," the teacher replied quickly._

_The young boy shook his head. "No, I don't really mind. I was just wondering."_

_Miss Hisakawa smiled. She said slowly, "That's fine. The reason is that I love flowers. I think they are really beautiful. Do you like flowers Seto?"_

_The six year old thought for a moment before replying, "I guess I think they are pretty too. Mom used to love them. She used to plant them everywhere in our house. But dad doesn't like flowers too much; he is too busy for them. I don't like them either."_

_"Why not?" asked the young woman._

_"They are too weak. They die too easily," replied Seto. _

_The teacher laughed. "Perhaps, but without them there wouldn't be fruits would there? Besides the world would seem so bleak without them don't you think?"_

_"I guess so," Seto replied. For the first time since his mother's death he smiled, a genuine smile._

_"You should smile more. They fit you," commented Miss Hisakawa. "You seem so sad all the time. I am sure your mother would love to see you smile too."_

_Seto said nothing about the comment but he smiled again. "What is your favourite kind of flower?"_

_"Daisies.__ I love Daisies," said the young woman with a smile. "I think we should go back to algebra now."_

_

* * *

_

_"Thank you for inviting me to dinner Mr. Takashi. That was very delicious," Miss Hisakawa said politely as she wiped her mouth._

_"Well considering all the time you put into Seto I am still in debt to you. Besides, I didn't invite you to dinner today, Seto did," replied Mr. Takashi._

_Miss Hisakawa smiled and turned to Seto, "Well thank you."_

_Seto said nothing but smiled back. He began to collect the dishes and head wobbly to the kitchen. His father stopped him, "I will do the dishes today Seto, why don't you show your teacher around?"_

_Seto smiled again. "Okay," he said happily, he was never too fond on washing dishes. He turned around took his teachers' hand and excitedly led the guest around his home. "Here's the living room… here's the kitchen… here's the washroom… here's my father's room…and this is my brother's room," hewhispered as they arrived at a dark room with a little bed. _

_"He is so cute" the young woman commented as he took a close look at the infant child in the bed. "How old is he?"_

_"He is a year old," Seto replied rather proudly and stared fondly at his baby brother. "He is called Mokuba."_

_The young teacher smiled. _

_They left the room and soon they arrived at another, "This is my room," he said and turned on the light. _

_Miss Hisakawa smiled again and commented, "Wow, it's very… neat."_

_"Mom used to say that it is hard to find anything if a room is not neat," Seto replied softly._

_The young woman walked to the bookshelf. She commented softly as she looked at the books, "You really like reading science fiction don't you?" _

_Young Seto nodded. "I wish we have the technology the people have in the books."_

_"Well a lot of stuff written in some of the older science fictions did become reality… you know you might even be able to make part of that fantasy come true." _

_Seto beamed and said dreamily, "May be…"

* * *

_

_Seto was worried. Substitute teachers had replaced his favourite teacher for the past few days. "Poor Miss Hisakawa…" said a voice behind the door to the staff room. Seto stopped walking abruptly. He looked at the door the voice came from. The young boy curiously walked closer to the door._

_"I know, she was so young," said another voice. The young boy recognized the voice belonged to the principle. _

_"What happened anyway?" asked a third voice._

_"I heard a drunk driver hit her when she was crossing a road Sunday night. The car should not be moving at that moment but as I said the driver was drunk."_

_"Drunk drivers? I tell you alcoholic drinks are invented by the devil!" _

_"Did she suffer much?"_

_"No, it was quick." _

_"So what are we going to do about it? How are we going to tell the students? She taught a grade one class you know…" _

_"They will have to know eventually… Let's send a notice home to the grade one and two classes about this today. This way the parents can explain everything to the younger kids in advance. I will make an announcement to the whole school about it tomorrow morning…"_

_

* * *

_

_Seto held his father's hand tightly as he stared at his teacher's coffin. He was not crying, his blue eyes were emotionless as he stared. Finally he dropped a lone daisy he picked earlier onto its cover. It was quite unfortunate that the daisy should be wilted, but that could not be helped since the ceremony lasted for longer than an hour, and naturally, after being deprived of water for so long, the daisy withered. Just as the boy said before - flowers dies too easily, too quickly. _

_"We should go," muttered his father._

_"No, I want to see it get buried," the young child replied firmly._

_"Why?" asked Seto's father._

_"Maybe she is still alive," replied Seto. His voice was soft, like a whimper._

_Mr. Takashi sighed and squeezed his son's shoulder hard. "Seto," he said slowly, "she – "_

_"Is dead," the child finished the sentence, he took a deep breath. His voice softened as he continued, "I know. I know. She will not wake up. Of course not."_

_Mr. Takashi squeezed his son's shoulder again. They both watched as the coffin was lowered into the ground._

_"Dad?__ Why do people die?" asked Seto suddenly._

_Mr. Takashi said nothing for the longest time but at the end he replied, "Some people believe it is God's will."_

_"God?"_

_"Yes. They believe that whenever God wants to see a person he would call him or her to heaven," Seto's father explained softly._

_"How about the others?" inquired the young boy._

_"The others believes that death is nature's way to make room for new lives," replied his father._

_"What do you believe?"_

_"I don't know," replied the father truthfully._

_Seto thought for a while in silence. "Why do some people live longer than others?"_

_"Because some people are weaker than others."_

_"Some people are stronger?" echoed the boy. He reflected on his father's answers. "Will I die?"_

_"Not for a long time." _

_"Will you die and leave me alone?"_

_Mr. Takashi squeezed his son's hand reassuringly. "No, of course not. I will never leave you and your brother alone."_

_L__ittle did the boy know, that in the matter of a year, when ever his mind unconsciously drifted to this piece of memory, or when ever he consciously chose to reflect on the event, a sardonic smile always manages to make its way onto his face._

_

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_

Not the end

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So…. What do you think? If you like it please review. 


	3. Group Mess

Disclaimer: I still don't own Yugioh.

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**Chapter Three – Group Mess**

* * *

"For this project, I want everyone to work in groups of three," said the teacher. The students looked around the room quietly, giving each other meaningful glances and signalled their friends to be their partners. The effort was a waste, however, for the teacher was not finish speaking, "That I assigned for each of you." 

The class groaned.

"But why can't we just choose our partners?" asked a dark haired girl.

"Yeah!" protested the majority of the class.

The teacher smiled calmly. "You can't because I want you to work with different people," said the teacher. His voice was final.

The class groaned again.

"What's the point of arguing anyway?" Seto silently mused. Sitting quietly at the back of the classroom, he did not protest because he knew the teacher would never change his mind. Instead, he quietly observed the reaction of his classmates. They were groaning, arguing, and protesting. Mildly amused, he smiled. It was a very subtle smile, so subtle that it would certainly be missed unless one looked very closely. Of course, no one noticed.

The teacher began to read out the groups. As expected, it received mixed reaction. Finally the last two groups was announced, "Tristan, Joey and Ryou, you are group nine and lastly, Yugi, Tea and Seto you are group twelve. I hope you all like your groups because I am not going to change them."

Seto Kaiba sat alone at a small table in the cafeteria. He looked at the greasy cafeteria lunch in front of him. It did not look too appetizing. He reached for an oily fries in the dish, hesitated for a moment before putting it in his mouth. It tasted as bad as it looked. He didn't even know why he decided to buy the lunch in the first place. He could have brought the lunch a servant prepared for him, but he didn't.

"Hey," said someone.

Seto looked up.

"Can I take this chair?" asked a teenage boy.

Seto took a quick glance at the empty chair across from him. He nodded subtly. Without another word the boy walked away with the chair and left Seto once again in peace.

Seto turned his attention back to his lunch. It looked as greasy as it did before. He pushed it away. In any case, he wasn't hungry, at least not after the teacher announced the groups for the group project. Not that he would have a good appetite even if Yugi were not one of his partners for the project.

He despised group projects.

It was that simple.

Group projects are unorganized. They are ineffective. They are chaotic.

He recalled the last thing the teacher said before class ended, "Group projects are good practice for the future when you have to work with strangers in the real world. I know you guys do not like me picking partners for you, but this skill is essential when you graduate and start to work…."

"Right." Seto snorted. "In the real world…" he muttered sarcastically.

Human beings are always so… inefficient, imperfect, unlike computers.

Getting people to work with other is not the greatest idea when you really think about it logically. It does not make sense because of human nature. When people work together conflicts are bound to arise. First, there is the fact that humans usually think their own ideas are the best. For that reason, people argue over meaningless things when they are working together, wasting a lot of time. Another, is the fact that human are lazy, some of your group members may never do anything. That itself, would not be a problem if it were not for human's love of equality. Then there is human's greed. Even if they do manage to finish doing a project together, the moment human beings realize about the advantages they can get if they can get all the credits for the project themselves, conflict would begin. Which would of course lead to more arguments...

Last but not least, was the fact that despite the term group project has the word group in it, it never fails to make some of the members in a group feel more left out than when they are alone.

* * *

_"… And I will put you in a group of five. Each group will design and make a paper airplane. However, unlike other paper air planes you made before, this will be powered by compressed air." The teacher pointed at a tank of compressed air connected to a metal rod fixed on a four feet tall wooded holder. "All you have to do is use paper and make a round tub that fits nice and tight onto the rod for the body. You need to design the rest of the airplane within your group. The group who makes the plane that flies the farthest will be given a special price." _

_Waves of excitement washed through the class of seven-year-old children. Suddenly the class exploded in lively conversations about the up coming project. "That's so cool!" exclaimed a flamboyant girl._

_"I want to be in Akio's group," said her friend._

_"Me too.__ He is smart and nice," replied that flamboyant girl. _

_The teacher silenced them by flickering off and on the light. "I will give you your groups now," she said with a bright smile. The class of seven year old waited anxiously at the edge of their seat. "First group consist of…"_

_The seven-year-old brown haired boy looked around him at his team mates and smiled. He was lucky and he was put in a group with the most desirable partners. Akio was a boy with dark hair, handsome features, and out going personality. Glowing with self confident, he was the classroom favourite, the most popular kid in the class among classmates and teachers. Everyone wanted to be in a group with him, Seto felt almost honoured. _

_"I have the perfect plan!" announced Akio. Seto and his group-mates looked up at their unofficial leader in silence. Akio took out a piece of paper and beginning to draw a diagram. "We should have wings like this," he said as he drew two big wings at the side of a tube. "The we should make the tail like this," he said as he added another part to his diagram._

_Seto__ stared at the picture hard. It didn't make sense. The design couldn't fly too far. For one thing, the wings were too fancy, it would be too heavy and takes too long to make… Besides, if that plane could really fly the design would have been used. The design was not going to work. _

_Akio continued, "And the front should be like-"_

_"This is not going to work," Seto interrupted. He could contain himself no longer. _

_The three loyal followers and their leader turned their attention to the young brown haired boy. The looked at the normally quiet boy questioningly._

_"The design is not going to work," Seto repeated._

_"How do you know?" asked Akio._

_"Yeah!" echoed the three other children._

_Seto__ was taken aback. "I… I just do."_

_"But you never tried flying a plane like this, so how do you know it won't work?" asked Akio._

_"Exactly," said the followers, staring at Seto doubtfully. _

_"I read it in a book," Seto replied, it was the simplest answer he could think of._

_"What book?" Akio pressed on. _

_Seto__ opened his mouth but closed it and for a while there was silence. Other groups also turned to watch the commotion and quieted down, anxious to hear his answer. He hated the attention, so he sank back into his chair and looked down at the floor._

_Satisfied by the 'answer' Akio continued to droned on about his design, the followers turned back to listen to their leader with interest, the rest of the class went back to their own projects. Soon the room was once again filled with noise and was buzzing with anticipation. _

_Seto__ stayed still. He found no reason to listen to Akio any longer. Explaining his own design would not do if the other would not listen. He fumed inwardly. There was no way his ideas would be used… Unless… _

_He smiled. If arrogant Akio would not listen to him someone else would. Another group, yes, he would help another group… He looked around the room. One of the groups caught his eyes. He would help them win. He turned his attention back to his own group with a spiteful smile._

_"I am sorry," Seto muttered._

_Akio ignored him and kicked the soccer ball to his team mates._

_"I really am sorry," repeated the brown haired boy remorsefully. Events unfolded as Seto planned. Everything was going smoothly for him until Akio found out who designed the airplane. _

_It was unfortunate for Seto that every action came with a reaction.

* * *

_

_Popularity grants people power. It gives them the power to control others. I_

_n this case Akio was able to make the whole class to turn on Seto with just one sentence, "If you play with him then I won't be your friend."_

_No one talked to him. No one was willing to play with him. Seto could not stand it. He was desperate._

_"Please?" Seto pleaded, following Akio._

_The popular boy finally stopped running. "Traitor," he whispered in Seto's ear._

_"What can I do for you to forgive me?" asked Seto._

_"You are a traitor." Akio said again. _

_"Please?" begged Seto. _

_Akio thought for a moment then smiled mischievously. "I will forgive you, Takashi…" the boy started. Seto sighed in relieve and smiled. "If," added Akio. "If you would kneel down, turn and bark three times like a dog in front of the whole class."_

_Seto__ blinked. Any trace of a smile disappeared from his face. "In… in front of the whole class?"_

_Akio smirked, "You've got it. Just kneel down turn and bark three times and I will play with you again."_

_Not quite knowing how to react to the situation, Seto was silent. Public embarrassment or public isolation? Both seemed undesirable. He imagined playing soccer with his classmates and talking to them again. The thought almost made him smile. Then he imagined himself kneeling and barking like a dog in front of the class. He could almost hear his classmate's hysterical laughter. He shuttered from the thought. _

_"When you do make your decision, tell me," said Akio, still smirking, "Takashi." With that he walked away.

* * *

_

_"Let's see if you can stand this Akio… Ice blast!" cried the brown haired young boy. He pressed the 'X' button on his play station controller. "Die!" A white mage began to shoot a stream of ice at the enemy boss with his staff in the television screen. _

_The monster shook a bit but remain standing. _

_"No? You won't die yet? Oh well your time will come!" Seto cried at the screen. "You healed yourself?" The young boy hit his forehead and sighed in despair. He took in a deep breath. "That's fine Akio! You can heal yourself! See if I care! I can still kill you!" His thumbs danced on the game control. "I summon the white dragon," Seto said as he watched the clip of summoning on the television. "Burn him to death! Die!" he cried as the dragon began to attack on the television screen. _

_The sound of the opening front door and crying interrupted the game play. "I am home!" _

_Pausing__ the game quickly, Seto jumped up and greeted his father. "I bought salad on the way home," Seto reported._

_The father tried to smile, but failed. The two-year-old boy in his arm had been crying all the way home from day care, the crying was giving him a headache. Seto walked forward to take his father's suitcase. "Thank you," said the father as he bent down and carefully put his two-year-old son on the floor so he could take of his shoes._

_"Did you eat anything when you get home?" asked Mr. Takashi loudly, speaking over the crying._

_Seto__ nodded silently._

_The father picked up Mokuba, who was still crying, and stood up. "What were you doing before?" He looked around, the game control and the television screen answered his question. "Did you finish your homework before you played?" _

_Seto__ nodded, following his father into his little brother's room, his father's suit case still in his hand._

_Mr. Takashi put Mokuba in bed and quickly walked out of the room along with Seto, closing the door behind him. As the crying dimmed behind the door, Mr. Takashi's headache dimmed as well. He sighed happily. "Okay, good. Now we can talk. So how was your day?"_

_"How was yours?" asked Seto in reply quietly._

_"I asked your first," said the father with a tired smile._

_"I had a wonderful day," lied Seto, "First we had this math test and I got perfect on that. Then all the classmates fought to have me on their soccer team because I am so popular and everyone likes me. Then at lunch everyone talked to me. Then I became the class hero by killing this big jerk called Akio… and then… then…" The seven-year-old boy broke off, he was crying._

_The father let out a small gasp. He was surprised. His elder son never cried after his wife died. His headache was returning. "What's wrong Seto?"_

_The young boy didn't answer. He took deep breath in an attempt to stop crying but he failed._

_"Is it something to do with school?" asked the father, looking into his son's eyes._

_Seto__ looked away. He ran into the closest washroom to get tissue to dry his own tears._

_"Tell me what happened," said Mr. Takashi, following his son to the washroom._

_"Why do I have to be so different?" asked Seto suddenly, blowing his nose._

_"What do you mean?" _

_"Everyone hates me…" cried the young boy._

_The father opened his mouth but closed it promptly; he did not know what to say. Comforting others was never one of his talents._

_Seto__ shook my head. "I know it was my fault, I know. I was angry that Akio would not listen to my advices. But why didn't he listen? What I said made perfect sense." _

_"How is this your fault? You know you are…" he paused, trying to find the right words, "more intelligent."_

_"I decided to help another group instead. I helped them to beat Akio. Then Akio found out and now everyone hate me," said Seto between deep breath, "I don't know what I can do to make them stop hating me."_

_The father messaged the side of his head, his headache was getting worst. He said nothing, but eventually he asked, "Did you try apologizing?"_

_The brown haired boy nodded. "No one wants to play with me anymore. I said sorry so many times, but they don't want to play with me."_

_Mr. Takashi sighed. "Did you say sorry to Akio personally?"_

_The boy nodded again. "He said he will only forgive me if I… if I…" Seto swallowed hard, "If I kneel down and turn around and bark like a dog in front of everyone." At this tears began to flow down on Seto's cheeks again. "But I cannot get myself to do that, I know people will just laugh at me more if I do that."_

_The father sighed again. "Sometime we just have to accept that Seto. Not everyone likes us," he said, emotionless. "There's nothing we can do to make those people like us." He paused, not sure what else to say he changed the topic, "I am hungry. Let's eat dinner."_

_

* * *

_

_A child never forgets his birthday. He or she always knows when it is. Always. It is one of those important dates in the year like Christmas, the first day of summer holiday, or the new-year, which they cannot forget. _

_It was Seto's birthday._

_Naturally he was a bit excited; after all he turned eight that day. He remembered the way he cerebrate his previous birthdays when his mother was still alive. They would always have a small party then eat at an English restaurant at night. However, as the shorter arm of the clock hit eight he could not help but feel disappointed. That in itself was quite an achievement since he had expected little to start with. He did not expect a party, and he did not ask for one, since he could think of no one who he could invite. He was not expecting gifts from his classmates, or even cards. As for dinner at a restaurant, he was not even expecting that, since he knew his father was working on a very important project and had not return home until eight for the past week, though he thought it would be nice. All he really hoped was an indication that someone actually remembered it was his birthday. _

_None came._

_No one sang happy birthday to him in school, or said the simple phrase happy birthday. In fact no one talked to him except for saying something like, "Can I borrow a pencil?" or "What is the answer for question number six?" Of course, he was used to that. He did not really have any friends after the whole paper airplane incident. _

_He was beginning to doubt that anyone remembered his birthday, even his father. He didn't say anything about this birthday in the morning, or during his phone call. Being a successful computer programmer and everything, perhaps, he was just a bit too busy to remember… _

_The front door opened suddenly. Seto jumped. He quickly turned around and found his father, as usual, holding his little brother, who was not crying this time, on one hand, and a suit case with the other. _

_Seto__ sighed silently, walked to his father and as usual, took the suit case, and wait for his father to take off his shoes and settle his little brother down on the floor. Mokuba wobbly stood up, fell, stood up again, fell again, then he gave up and craw toward his older brother. "Da! Da!" said the boy. Seto looked down at him, pat his head and handed the suit case back to his father._

_"How was your day?" he asked._

_"Pretty good.__ The new program is almost done. Tomorrow I can start polishing my work. How about you?" said the father as he began to take off his tie._

_"Good." Seto lied._

_"Did you finish your homework?" _

_"Yes." _

_"Good, cause we are going out to eat," said the father casually. _

_Seto's__ mind raced. He wondered if they were going out for dinner because of his birthday. However, the possibility of them going out for no reasons was bigger, they often eat out at a restaurant since his mother died. _

_They went to an English restaurant. "The food was good eh Seto?" asked Mr, Takashi as he carefully wiped Mokuba's mouth clean._

_Seto__ nodded absentmindedly in agreement._

_"Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the program. It's fabulous. With it, people can do their office work with half the effort. I should really bring you to work sometime, since you are always interested." _

_Seto__ nodded half-heartedly. The dinner turned out to be a normal one and Seto was awfully disappointed._

_"Oh and here comes the cake."_

_His mind could not quite comprehend what was said quickly, but when he did, Seto gasped. He turned around. A waiter was slowly walking toward their table with a small birthday cake with eight lighted candles on top._

_"Happy birthday to you…" Mr. Takashi began to sing, as the waiter walked closer. "Happy birthday to you," the waiter joined in. "Happy birthday to you," sang the cash register. "Hapi bitay tow u!" sang Mokuba, who had yet to learn to speak properly._

_"You remember!" cried Seto joyously._

_"Of course I did, do you think I am that forgetful?" asked the father with a smile, "Now make a wish and blow the candle out."_

_Without another thought Seto blew the candles out. _

_"Your present is in the car trunk Seto. You can see it when you go home."_

_Seto__ uncharacteristically hugged his father. He could care less. He was happy. _

_Happy hours zoomed past like it was just a second and in no time at all they were all home. And no longer than five minutes at all the huge wrapped up present was carried out the car trunk and up the elevators and into their apartment. In ten seconds the present was unwrapped. _

_"Mother board," said the eight year old as he stared into the huge rectangular box, his voice barely above a whisper, "RAM, accelerator, video card…" His voice dropped to a whisper._

_"Now be careful with static electricity. You always seem to be interested in building your own computer," explained the father, "And besides home built computer are always the best. This can be so much better than the ones you buy in stores. Perhaps we can build this together sometime."_

_Seto__ nodded, too happy to speak._

_"Besides all boys your age should have a computer. It's essential for homework and life in general. And I know I am not home most of the time, but this can accompany you, just like it did for me."_

_

* * *

_

Not the end

* * *

This is the new longest chapter I've ever written. Eleven pages. If you think I deserve one, please review. 


	4. The Teller of Lies

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I still don't own Yugioh.

* * *

**Chapter Four – The Teller of Lies**

* * *

The grey sky, the grey concrete road, the grey tombstone, everything looked grey, even the trees and the grass and even the light. Everything. "You are a liar!" said a broken voice. He looked up and found a young boy kneeling in front of him. For a moment he was taken aback because he thought the comments were directed at him, but soon he realized the angry comments were directed at someone else, so he continued to look on emotionlessly with half interest. "You are a liar!" the words chocked out of the boy as he slammed his small fists on the ground. Pitiful. Really. He sneered cruelly at the boy when suddenly the little boy turned around and revealed a rather familiar face… 

Seto Kaiba opened his eyes sluggishly. For ten minutes he just stared at the top of his poster bed, then finally he sat up on his bed. In silence he studied the round clock hanging on the wall at the other side of the room. It read six and fifteen. He sighed, got out of his bed and changed into his school uniform before he made his way to the dining room.

"You are up early, Mr. Kaiba," commented the elderly housekeeper.

Seto said nothing and sat down in his usual seat and began reading the newspaper on the table waiting for him.

The housekeeper either did not notice or did not mind that he was rudely ignored and continued to ask, "What would you like for breakfast Mr. Kaiba?"

Without bothering to look up from the newspaper the teenager replied curtly, "The usual."

The housekeeper understood and promptly left the room without another word. Moments later he returned with a maid holding a silver platter. "Here's your breakfast, sir," the housekeeper announced as he served the warm toast and latte. Seto gave a subtle nod of acknowledgement, and hastily picked up the toast for a half-heartedly bit. He put his toast back on the dish. "What day is today?" he asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the newspaper.

"Sir?" he asked, surprised that he was spoken to.

"What day is today?" Seto repeated his question, his voice still as soft, but was slightly irritated. He disliked repeating himself.

"It's…" the housekeeper paused to ponder then continued, "It is November the eighth, sir."

"I see," replied Seto, absentminded, preoccupied. "Arrange a ride to pick up both Mokuba me," he thought for a moment and added, "Contact the office and tell them I won't be going tomorrow."

"Yes sir," replied the housekeeper.

For the first time his blue eyes turned toward the house keeper. "Make sure the ride will be on time. I do not like waiting," Seto warned coldly. With that he went back to his breakfast and his newspaper.

Seeing he was no longer needed the housekeeper retreated out of the room, leaving his young master behind.

And once again there was silence.

Mokuba silently pushed open the door and walked inside. He found his older brother inside, facing away from the door and in front of the computer. He was not at all surprised, after all, his older brother always seemed to be busy, even on weekends. As for weekdays he would always go to school, and then to work and then he would come home to do more work. Sometimes he wondered if his brother was a robot.

Carefully, the boy crept deeper into the room, his feet made no noise as they made contact with the soft carpet. Standing right behind his brother he finally stopped and opened his mouth, prepared to speak. Yet, moments later, he closed his mouth once again because the sound of constant typing discouraged him, so instead he silently watched his older brother's back.

As much as he loved his older brother he hardly ever talked to him. On good days he would be able to talk to Seto face to face for about half an hour, on bad days he could not even talk to him for three minutes. It was quite a shame, because although his brother may not know, he was the only one who could supply him with good conversations. It was not like he never tried talking to people his age, but he found he could never have interesting conversations with them because all they liked talking about were soccer, cartoons or video games. Although Mokuba was interested in at least one of the topics – video games, he had always find himself being so many levels ahead of everyone else. In anyway case, he often played the games before they reach the market because of his brother's connections, and really, there was no point in talking to other people about games they never played. It was for this reason that when he was around his classmates he often fell silent, and this silence was often mistakenly interpreted as snobbishness.

Not that he cared, though, he never liked his classmates much anyway they were all so… stupid.

Of course he felt lonely sometimes, but such was the price of being rich, so he never complained. He did not feel he had the right to complain… but what was the use of having all those multi-players video games when he could only play by himself? His older brother did not like visitors, and even if he did there would be no one who Mokuba wanted to invite, because everyone else was so _stupid_.

Except for his older brother, who was always too busy to play… though Mokuba was used to the whole deal by now, or at least that was what he often try to convince himself…

Forgetting where he was he let a sigh escape his lips.

Seto turned around in alarm but clamed down when he saw his brother. He commented thoughtfully, "I didn't know you were here."

Mokuba looked at his brother for a moment before asking, "Hey Seto," he hesitated before continuing, "Can I ask you a question?"

Seto nodded subtly.

"Why are we," Mokuba paused trying to find the right words, "why do we… have to visit that grave tomorrow?" asked Mokuba quietly.

Seto looked surprised for a moment, but he recovered and replied curtly, "It's a tradition."

"I guess I will have to go?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes." There was no room for argument.

"Okay," Mokuba replied softly.

Seto stared at his brother for a moment then he too sighed. "Listen, Mokuba. I know you don't like this too much, and how last year this idiotic reporter took pictures and edited the photo on computer so that it looked like you were crying hysterically, and you got laughed at by some kids. But at least that woman wrote nothing bad about you. Frankly, I am not too fond of graves either, but it will be very bad for our reputation if we don't even visit our real father's grave. It's sort of our duty as sons. Ridiculous, I agree completely. But– "

"What was father like?" Mokuba interrupted.

Again, Seto was surprised. For a long time he said nothing, then he replied in an icy voice, "Does it matter? He is dead. That's all you have to know."

"But he was a better father than Gozuburo right?" asked Mokuba with a frown.

Seto sneered. "Define 'better' Mokuba. What is 'better'? No adults in this world are actually good inside, you know."

"But still, you liked him better than Gozuburo right?"

To this Seto gave no answer and there was silence.

* * *

_"I can't believe you… How can you just leave us at a time of crisis like this?" cried a dark haired woman, with tears in her eyes._

_"I – I look, Yuko, money is tight for us too. You cannot believe how much day care cost, and food… I can't cook, you know sister, and eating at a restaurant cost a lot of money… And I can be fired at any time. With two children that I must take care of I cannot afford to not save up the little remainder that I have each month," explained Seto's father._

_"Little!__ For heaven sakes! You are living in the wealthy part of Tokyo! How dare you not help us!" the middle aged woman screamed._

_"I would if I can!" cried the father. _

_"So you are going to completely disgrace your family by not helping your own sister!" the woman cried angrily._

_"I am sorry, but the large amount of money you are asking to borrow is not exactly money I can just suddenly give," replied the father._

_"Fine!__ If you are not going help us we will go! Let's go Ichiro, if this selfish man is not going help us, we will find our own way," the woman said quietly to a tall, black haired teenager standing at the other side of the room with his younger cousin. _

_The teenager silently gave a quick wave at Seto, and followed his mother out of the house._

_"Remember page thirty-two math, and the page fifteen in the workbook," the teacher said to the anxious students. "Dismiss."_

_Thirty-two students shot up like rockets and filed out of the classroom, their backpacks in hand. In seconds they were all gone, except for one. _

_Sluggishly, the remainder rose from his seat, and collected his books and put them in his backpack. The teacher waited impatiently at the door. "Come on Seto! I need to leave for an appointment today, come on! Quick! Quick!" the teacher rushed. _

_Still Seto was reluctant to move any quicker than he was. However, he did begin walking, toward the door while the teacher glanced at him disapprovingly. He walked out of the classroom without a word and into the half-empty school building. He paused at the door and looked outside. The schoolyard was almost empty. He smiled weakly and began to walk outside toward the playground with his head staring hard onto the ground. _

_"Look! It's Takooser coming this way! Everyone take cover!" cried a boy. Everyone laughed and ran behind the slide on the playground. _

_The brown haired boy gasped, and nervously looked up. Then he began to walk the other direction. _

_"Woof! woof!" mocked another. Everyone giggled like mad again._

_Seto__ said nothing and continued walking. _

_"Hey is he leaving already? How rude! We waited for him for a whole ten minutes and this is how he is treating us!" teased a girl._

_"No wonder he has no friends," replied another sarcastically. The group laughed again. _

_Still Seto said nothing._

_The group quickly caught up with the boy and stood in front of him. "Hey Takashi!" cried one of the boys. Seto ignored him and began to run around the group. "I said Takashi!" the boy cried angrily and roughly shoved Seto back._

_The brown haired boy stumbled and rather ungracefully fell on the ground with a thud.

* * *

_

_Seto__ slowly made his way to his home. What normally was a half an hour trip took him a whole hour due to the five bruises on his leg. He slowly took out his keys and opened the door. _

_"There you are!" cried Mr. Takashi, "I was about to phoned the school to see if you had a detention or something."_

_Seto__ looked up at his father silently, then he took off his shoes._

_"Didn't I tell you to come home early today?" asked Seto's father sternly._

_"I am sorry," Seto replied quietly and began limping toward his room._

_The father frowned. "Hey Seto come here please," he requested. Seto thought for a moment before complying and walked toward his father as quick as he could. "What's wrong with you legs?" the concerned father asked._

_"I was playing soccer with my classmates and someone accidentally kicked me when he was trying to get the ball," replied Seto smoothly._

_Mr. Takashi shook his head silently, "That's why I hated that sport. I assume you got your uniform dirty the same way, right?" Seto looked down at his shirt stained with dirt, and nodded silently. The father sighed, and then he smiled. "Alright then, you better change quickly. You know it's a special day today. We will be leaving in five minutes." With that he gave Seto a small push toward the bedrooms. _

_"Here's water," said Seto as he limped back with a small vase filled with water._

_"Thank you," Mr. Takashi said as he took the vase from his son and set it in front of his wife's grave. "Okay Mokuba you can put your sunflower in now."_

_Mokuba__ walked up to the grave wobbly and carefully stuck the flower in the vase. Suddenly a butterfly flew in front of him and he began to chase it. _

_"Mokuba!"__ Seto cried, as he got ready to walk after his little brother. _

_"Just let him go," Mr. Takashi said as he placed his hand on his son's shoulder, "He can't really hurt himself here, besides, it's his birthday."_

_Seto__ nodded with a soft smile and turned his attention back to the grave._

_"Hey Yuki, it had been three years now. Mokuba is three today and Seto is now eight. They are both well and healthy. Seto is doing very well in school… I think you must had been watching over us, because all three of us had been quite happy the last three years…" the father said to his deceased wife. Seto bit his lips at the last comment. "Do you have anything to say to your mother Seto?"_

_The boy stared at the grave hard for a moment, and then he closed his eyes tight and summoned an image of his mother in his head. A graceful woman with brown hair and blue eyes appeared talking to a younger version of himself…_

_"Go apologize to that boy now, calling people names is mean," the woman said sternly._

_"But mother! He called me names first!" replied the young boy._

_"Seto, two wrongs don't make one right. Revenges are just for weak people who have no control of themselves," replied the mother. She looked at the confused looking boy in front of her and gave a small laugh. She continued, "You see, Seto, people's heart are weak like flowers, you have no idea how much a little comment can hurt other people's hearts. So Seto will you go and apologize?"_

_The young boy looked up at his mother, and nodded. _

_Seto__ opened his eyes again, in front of him was still the grave, and beside him was still his father waiting patiently for him to speak. _

_"Mom, I am confused."_

_"Mokuba, smile!" cried Mr. Takashi in frustration, "We need some good birthday pictures." Of course, he had already given up on making his three-year-old son listen to the command a long time ago._

_Seto__ struggle to hold his little brother down, "Take the picture! I am tired," Seto cried. So the father did, but the pictures didn't turn out well. Mokuba either looked like he was growling or crying, both were not exactly desirable for perfect pictures, however, at least they were pictures. _

_The father sighed as he put down his camera. He made sure he put the camera a far enough distance so the birthday boy would not be able to touch it. "Seto, should I get the cake now?" he asked as he sat exhausted in his seat. _

_The boy nodded. A few minutes later, a small double chocolate cake with three burning candles arrived, again Mr. Takashi made sure the cake was far enough from Mokuba so he could not touch it. When the song was sung and Seto blew off the candles, because Mokuba could not blow them all out himself. Then, the cake was cut up and shared between the three._

_"Seto," the father said as he took another bit of his piece of cake._

_"Yeah?" the boy replied with half interest._

_"I am sorry I had not been home much in the last few months, you know," the father said._

_"It's fine," the boy replied quietly with a shrug, as he cut a piece of the cake with his fork._

_"It's not," replied the father, "So I promise I will take Friday and Saturday off this week end so we can finally build your birthday gift together."_

_Seto__ stared at his father, as a smile crept onto his face. "Seriously?"_

_The father smiled. "Of course. I never lie."

* * *

_

_Seto__ looked outside the window. Large raindrops beat on the window as a lightning flashed. He sighed. Turning around, he walked toward the large paper box at the corner of his room. He smiled softly, his father promised to build the computer with him tonight. He turned to look at the clock. It was seven. His father should be returning any moments…_

_The sound of an opening door interrupted his thoughts. He quickly ran out of his room to the living room. However it was not his father, instead an old lady and his little brother greeted him. "Oh it's you, Mrs. Hida," Seto said, his disappointment apparent in his voice._

_The old lady shook the water off her umbrella and let go of Mokuba's hand. "Hello Seto, your father phoned me and told me to pick up Mokuba from the daycare for him because he is stuck in traffic," Mrs. Hida said with a kind smile._

_"Did he say when he would be home by?" Seto asked anxiously._

_"Eight. You must be hungry though, let me make something for you guys to eat. I will stay with you guys until he arrives," the old woman said as she walked toward the kitchen, leaving the two children alone in the living room._

_Seto__ sighed and turned on the television and his Playstation, while Mokuba sat beside him and watched him play._

_"Why isn't dad here yet?" Seto asked anxiously. It was nine-thirty and his dad was still not home. He was beginning to worry._

_"It's probably just the traffic," replied Mrs. Hida soothingly. _

_"But he said he would be back by eight!" cried Seto._

_"Shhhh!"__ Mrs. Hida said, "You don't want to wake Mokuba up."_

_Seto__ nodded and quieted down, but he was still as anxious. "But…"_

_"It's a very rainy day Seto, maybe he is stuck behind some large accidents," replied the old lady. The bell rang. Seto gasped. Mrs. Hida stood up from her seat and walked toward the door, with Seto following closely behind her. "Maybe your father forgot his keys," she said with a smile and opened the door. Greeting her at the door was not the face of Seto's father; however, but two policemen. "Hello, how may I help you?" Mrs. Hida said in a confused voice._

_The policemen looked nervously at each other before looking at Seto, their eyes shined with pity. "Is this the Takashi resident?" asked the one standing on the left._

_Mrs. Hida nodded. "Yes, what is the problem?"_

_"Mr. Takashi had been in…" began one of them._

_"An accident," the other finished._

_"Which hospital is he in?" Seto asked before anyone else could say more._

_There was an awkward silence before one of the policemen replied, "The university hospital…"_

_"What… What is his condition?" asked Mrs. Hida, with her hand over her mouth, her voice barely above a whisper._

_The policemen glanced at each other nervously again, but before either of them could say anything, the eight-year-old boy answered softly, "He is dead, Mrs. Hida."

* * *

_

_"I… want… father…" Mokuba cried. Tears were spilling down his cheek as Seto held him still. "Stop it Seto! You are hurting me!" he cried as he struggled to escape out of Seto's grip._

_Yet, Seto refused to let go of him, instead he ordered, "Sit still!"Surprised at his brother's raised voicet, because his older brother never yelled at him before Mokuba stop struggling and sat still in the seat next to Seto. _

_A Buddhist priest wearing special costume entered the room. Mokuba began sobbing again. "I… want… to see… father…" Mokuba muttered between sobs._

_"Stop crying!" Seto hissed in a low whisper, extremely irritated, "Father is dead! Stop asking for him!" _

_"No! He is sleeping! Why can't I go and wake him up?" Mokuba asked, getting ready to jump out of his seat again._

_Seto__ hold his little brother still. "He is not…going…to…wake up!" Seto exclaimed in frustration. _

_"But he promised – " Mokuba began but he was interrupted. _

_"Promises are not meant to kept," Seto whispered bitterly._

_The priest began to do the Sutra chanting. Everyone in the room quieted down._

_"No! Dad would never break a promise!" Mokuba defended in a low whisper._

_Seto__ closed his eyes in despair. An image of his father appeared in his head, and he could almost hear him saying, "So I promise I will take Friday and Saturday off this week end so we can finally build your birthday gift together." He bit his lips hard. The priest was still chanting, but he was not listening. His mind floated to a conversation he had with his father two years ago... _

"No, of course not," his father had said with his confident voice, "I will never leave you and your brother alone."

_"You don't know anything you naive idiot!"__ Seto pushed Mokuba down on the floor, eyes flaring, fingers pointing accusingly. 'They are all damn liars!"he cried abruptly above the chanting. Everyone stared at him, but he could not see them. In a frenzy he ran to room where they kept his father's body, somehow avoiding everyone who tried to stop him. "Liar!" he repeated, he pounded on the door. Behind him he could hear shouts, commotions, and his little brother crying._

_He could care less. _

_As he attempt to open the door he screamed again. "Liar!" There was more commotion behind him. The door would not budge. His mind blanked out except for thethoughttoopen the door. He hit the door with his fist a few more times before he began kicking. His brother cried harder. Still the door would not open. He backed up a little and rammed into the door. The door would not budge. He backed up again but suddenly strong arms grabbed him, stopping him. He looked up and saw that a few guests had taken hold of him. In vain he struggled to be free. Slowly his brain began to registered the voices around him calling him to stop. As his common senses returned he gave up struggling, instead, limply, like a broken doll, he allowed the adults to carry him back to his seat._

_The priest continued chanting.

* * *

_

_When the priests left the hall seemed rather quiet. The guests began to leave. Against the flow of people, a tall dark haired teenager slowly moved toward his cousin. "Um…" he began, but he paused, uncomfortable, "I am sorry about your father."_

_The boy nodded dully without looking up. He said nothing._

_"Your aunt Yuko said that…" Ichiro paused again. "You can't come and live with us."_

_"I know," Seto replied in a whisper._

_"I am sorry…" Ichiro repeated, his voice was filled with guilt._

_"It is okay," Seto replied softly, mechanically, emotionlessly, "I will be okay." He stood up and began to walk away from his cousin._

_"Seto, it's not!" Ichiro cried. He calmed down quickly and added, "Stop avoiding me."_

_Seto__ abruptly turned. Eyeing his cousin in surprise, compassion was not something he was too used to. He frowned slightly. "I am not avoiding you."_

_"You always walk away when I want to talk to you about your future," Ichiro replied. "Don't you know where they are going to take you?"_

_Seto__ nodded calmly. "I know."_

_"Don't you care about that at least a bit? Don't you know how serious this is?" Ichiro asked, his voice demanding for an answer._

_"I know," Seto repeated himself. "They are putting my brother and me in an orphanage."_

_"Aren't you going to at least fight that? Do you actually want to go to an orphanage? You are not even going to try begging my mother to change her decisions? Are you going because you hate my mother?" _

_Seto__ shrugged. "How will begging change the situation?" he asked quietly. "Grandma died a few years back, my father was an only child, and your mother is the only sister of my mother. The account my father set up for us will not allow us to use the money till I am eighteen. So the orphanage seems to be the only other option."_

_Ichiro recoiled, offended at his cousin's indifference. "Why do you let the world push you around all the time?"_

_Seto__ shrugged again. "Because this is the only possible outcome."_

_"So you actually believe in fate and destiny?" _

_Seto__ looked at his cousin for a moment, then he shook his head. "I don't. But in this case, there is only one possible out come. And no matter how hard I fight I will still end up in an orphanage. I don't want to waste my time."_

_Ichiro stared at the ground in front of him in despair. "You are going to go with your brother. Do you know how much he may suffer? He is still young."_

_"I know." Seto turned his head toward his little brother, asleep in a chair. He smiled weakly. Turning to his cousin he added thoughtfully, "I will take care of him. After all he is the only family I have left." His face was unreadable as he turned away once again. Again he began to walk but again he stopped. Without turning his head he whispered, "Ichiro, to answer the question I think you are asking me: I don't hate your mother. She is ignorant, but it is not her fault." _

_Ichiro kept his silence but frowned. While it seemed all right for a teenager like himself to think that, it seemed unnatural for an eight year old to call an adult ignorant, even if that was true. Seto continued his analysis, "She is greedy, but she really did love my mother. As for you, you always keep me company when she argues with my dad about money." He sighed wearily. "Though with the amount of money she was asking for, I was not surprise my father did not give it to her. When my mother died, your mother inherited half of her money. If she used the money wisely you guys would have been living relatively well right now."_

_Ichiro bit his lips. He muttered bitterly, "I know. Gambling. She is addicted to it, but I could do nothing about that."_

_"Exactly.__ Sometimes, you just can't do anything about the situation…" Seto said. He turned back around, and looked deep into his cousin's eyes. Ichiro flinched and pulled away from the unnerving gaze, the boy's eyes were much too knowing for comfort. Seto did not seem to notice and continued, "Aunt Yuko will stay the same. Even if I can give her all my money the outcome will still be the same, at the end she will be broke, and at the end my brother and I will still be sent to the orphanage. Nothing will change."_

_"I would make you stay with us no matter what… but…" Ichiro said suddenly with a meek laughed. "I won a scholarship Seto, soon I will be going to America."_

_Seto__ smiled sincerely. "Congratulation." He laughed quietly. "I guess that is another reason why we can't come and live with you."_

_"I am sorry I can't stay with you guys."_

_"Don't be," Seto replied earnestly. "You were always nice to me. You were the only one nice to me. There is nothing that you should be sorry about. I will be fine. Perhaps it's better this way," he added evenly, "Everyone in my school hates me anyway." _

_"They hate you?" Ichiro asked gently, his brows furrowed. _

_Seto__ shrugged. "Teasing, mocking, jeering… They did what ever they can to make themselves feel smarter than I am. They want to feel superior…" The boy faltered. His eyes hardened. He continued icily, "Sometimes they hurt me."_

_"So that is why he gets all his bruises…" Ichiro muttered to himself. He shook his head sadly. "Why don't you ever tell your father? Why don't the teachers do something?" He lift his hand and placed it on his young cousin's shoulder._

_Seto's eyes flashed. "Don't pity me!" the young boy cried as he shook off the hand. Ichiro looked up in surprise, but Seto's gaze was once again lowed on to the ground. His voice once again became meek and with his feet he drew invisible circles on the floor. He began in a low voice, "I don't mind them so much anymore... I used to. I used to wish that I could be their friend. I used to do things to please them, anything, even if I knew what I did would be pure entertainment for them and would do absolutely nothing. I just wanted them to like me. I used to wish that one day they would just suddenly like me." He paused. His voice grew cold and cynical. "I don't want to be their friends anymore. I am glad I am not their friends."_

_"Why didn't you fight back?" Ichiro asked. "Why did you just let them hurt you?" _

_"What can I do? I am over powered ten to one. My retaliation would be most spectacular," Seto replied sarcastically. "I never like fighting anyway…" His mouth tilted to a bitter smile. "But don't you think it would be much worst if they completely ignore me? They are just jealous that I know more than they do. Jealousy implies some form of respect." _

_Ichiro was speechless at his young cousin's cynical view and melancholy voice. He did not know how to response. He realized that what the boy told him was probably something he never said to anyone else. His father would become too protective; his brother is too young to understand, as for the teachers, the boy could not trust them. He felt horrible, because he did not know how to comfort his poor cousin, who, though he had always liked, he never quite got to know, and who he would likely not see often in the future. Finally, after a long silence he decided to speak the only thing he thought could be of comfort, "Those kids are just dumb, you are a very gifted child. As long as you can keep that in mind it is okay."_

_A faint smile appeared on the boy's face. He changed the topic. "Hey Ichiro, you will come back after you finish university in America right?"_

_"No… at least probably not but we will see…" He looked at the boy in front of him. The boy was looking at the ground in deep thought. Uncertain, Ichiro took a step toward the boy, however, he did not touch him; he was scared the boy would crumble at his touch. "Are you…" But before he could finish his question, he could feel two thin arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He felt his shirt becoming wet. _

_Seto__ was crying.

* * *

_

The Kaiba brothers slowly made their way to their father's grave. Unable to bare the silence, Mokuba spook up, "Hey Seto, you are not mad I asked you about father yesterday are you?" Mokuba asked with his head staring down on the ground.

Seto said nothing for a while but finally replied, "No."

"I am sorry big brother. I just don't really remember what father was like. I can't even remember what he looked like," Mokuba said apologetically.

"It's okay, Mokuba. The past does not exist, not any more."

* * *

Not the end

* * *

I hope you will give me reviews and inputs. Thank you so much for your support.


	5. Child Play

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh… sob

* * *

**Chapter Five – Child Play**

* * *

"It is really pitiful. I thought Desolated Tales would be more challenging than the other on-line RPG, with more players and flexibilities. But everyone are so weak in the game, it is so hard to find a worthy opponent," Mokuba said with a mile smirk. It was one of the good days and he was sitting at one end of the long crystal dining table with dishes of half eaten food in front of him. 

His brother was sitting at the opposite end, listening quietly to his rant on his latest video game with a subtle proud smile.

"Of course there are some people worthy for my time, but they are pitiful too," Mokuba continued to whine. "I still haven't die even once in this month! I thought after two hundred hours of gaming I would die more than six times! But no! I hardly ever die because everyone else are so pathetically weak!"

Amused, Seto replied sarcastically, "If you want to die so badly you can always let someone kill you on purpose."

"But that would be meaningless. Beside, I would not give anyone the sweet satisfaction of defeating me unless they deserve it," Mokuba replied smoothly with a smirk.

His brother could not help but laugh. "Of course."

"Which brings me to another point, there's this player killer in the game. The BBS has it that he is undefeated. Do you think I should challenge him?"

For a moment Seto's eyes flared, alarmed, but they quickly gave into indifference. "I don't think you should waste your time on him," Seto said with a slight smile.

"You are right. I should not drop to his level. I may be a high level player, but I never sneak up on people and hurt them at the back, just to gain experience points. I don't hurt weak players to get cheap experience points either," Mokuba critiqued. He paused, and then he added quietly, "Though I understand why they do it. Small sacrifices are acceptable as long as they contribute to the big picture."

"That's right, small sacrifices are acceptable as long as they contribute to the big picture," Seto repeated softly, his voice biting, "That's what Gozaburo used to say isn't it?" He looked at Mokuba who recoiled at the question. He chuckled caustically, "Funny, isn't it? We both hate that man yet we both remember everything he said. The thing is… We both find most of what he said true."

Silence.

Mokuba said nothing and began to concentrate on his food. Seto said nothing and concentrated on staring at his food. The meal was over without another word. Finally dessert was served. Chocolate Sunday. It was one of Mokuba's favourites, something that despite the awkward silence put a smile appear on Mokuba's face. He began to eat.

As for Seto, who was never too fond of sweets, he left his bowl alone. So instead he found amusement in watching his brother eat so carelessly. "You have chocolate on your nose."

"Do I?" Mokuba asked between large gulps of ice cream. He shrugged innocently. "I can always clean up later."

Ah what innocence. Seto laughed silently.

* * *

_Gozaburo__ Kaiba was a lonely man. It was not because he could not find a drinking companion when he wanted one, nor was it because no body liked him. No, it was quite the opposite, everyone loved him – for his money, that is. He did not want to be too attached with anyone in any cause because human nature allowed best friend to backstab each other for money. _

_He wasn't always that lonely, however. There was a time when he had a wife and a son he loved but they both died ten year ago. He had never been a very sociable man, but ever since their death he was even less sociable than before. Everyone still respect him however, because he was still a very successful businessman. _

_His father died two years ago at a respectable age of eighty-nine. The death led Gozaburo to think of his own inevitable death. With that came the thoughts about Kaiba Corp successor. Legally, the next of kin would inherit the company upon the death of the owner. With his brothers, sisters, wife and son all dead the next of kin would be his rich cousin, someone who Gozaburo despised._

_He needed an heir. _

_There were two ways he could get one. The first way involved remarrying some pretty woman. He might be getting old but his bank accounts could certainly attract a lot of vain and superficial women. That idea was abandoned almost immediately, however, he knew those woman would drain up his fortune in record time. Further more he felt a considerable amount of guilt toward his deceased wife and son. _

_With that idea eliminated, the only solution left was adoption. When a man like Gozaburo Kaiba wanted to adopt a kid there is a huge selection and many options._

_"You just told me to find any orphanage with a smart child. That boy did have high IQ you know. He fitted your requirement," said Gozaburo's secretary, a middle aged man named Saitou._

_"Yes, but I am a business man, Saitou, I cannot stand imperfection. I don't want to adopt someone with a disability no matter how smart that person is," Gozaburo scolded mercilessly. He paused then added, "I hope the next one will be better."_

_Saitou replied smoothly, "Don't worry Mr. Gozaburo, the next one is perfectly healthy."_

_Gozaburo__ snorted. _

_"Seto Takashi, sir. From what I gathered he is a smart boy," Katashi reported._

_Gozaburo__ snorted again. "We will see about that. We have already been to at least ten orphanage and you said that about every single one of those kids."_

_Katashi__ quickly defended, "But the tests result indicated – " _

_"But the test result doesn't matter. I don't want some fidgeting kid who gets so nervous when speaking to me that he can't even utter three intelligent words. If the kid cannot speak intelligently in any situation, quick thinking, well mannered, and above all actually respectfully look into my eyes when speaking to me, I am not even going to consider adopting that kid," Gozaburo exclaimed. He grunted and took a_ _cigar. Saitou lighted_ _it for him. "I cannot adopt some kid who cannot even demonstrate to me that he is smart he does not deserve the honour to be my son."_

_"Of course not," Saitou agreed__pleasingly, "Who ever can become your son is the luckiest young man in the whole world."_

_Gozaburo__ sneered._

_"Follow me this way gentlemen. I will show you where the children play…" the woman said, walking out of the room toward a close door. _

_Gozaburo and Saitou silently_ _followed her._

_"This is the game room sir, but be warn, it may be a bit loud," the woman said with a warm smile. She opened the door. Instantly laughter, shouts, songs, and sobs – all kinds of noises filled the air. Gozaburo looked into the busy room. Board games, crayons, cards, books, dolls, and toy cars, all scattered chaotically all over the tables within. Around the tables were children of all ages, all much too occupied with their games to notice the adults at the doorway. _

_Gozaburo__ shook his head disapprovingly. _

_"Are all of the children here in this room?" he asked the caretaker._

_The caretaker scanned the room and answered with a warm smile, "All but one, sir." _

_"Can we have a few moment alone, Ms. Maaya?" Saitou asked with a smooth smile. The woman nodded, she walked inside the noisy room and closed the door behind her._

_Instantly.__ Blissful silence._

_"What do you think Mr. Gozaburo?" Saitou asked_ _with a slanted smile._

_"Those children inside are insane," Gozaburo replied bluntly._

_Saitou chuckled. "They are children, Mr. Gozaburo, you cannot expect all of them as mature as a grown up."_

_"Is that kid you were talking about inside?" Gozaburo asked coldly._

_"Most likely, Mr. Gozaburo, after all, the caretaker did say…"_

_From the side of his eyes Gozaburo caught a shadow behind his secretary. He turned his head abruptly toward it. From the shadow immerged a boy. The boy looked extremely familiar. He could still vaguely_ _hear Saitou speaking_ _to him, but the voice seemed far away. Gozaburo gasped softly. There behind his secretary stood his son._

_Dumbfounded, scared, surprised, overjoyed, Gozaburo found himself unable to move or speak. He could only stare back as the boy stared at him. For a long time the two stared at each other as if they were in a staring contest, finally the boy gave in. He spoke, "Excuse me can you please let me pass?" _

_The voice woke Gozaburo from the trance. He blinked. Suddenly everything became clear. The illusions disappeared. The boy standing in front of him did not have dark eyes but a pair of blue ones, instead of aqua coloured hair, he had brown hair, style curiously like his deceased son. His eyes Gozaburo shook his head in dismay. _

_"May I please pass?" the boy asked again, this time a bit louder._

_"Mr. Gozaburo, are you okay?" Saitou asked, worried. He never saw his boss so white before. It was as if he saw a ghost. Gozaburo nodded and slowly walk away from the door, still looking at the boy. _

_Without another look at the adults, the boy rushed passed the two men. He pushed open the door behind them and joined the other orphans in the chaos.

* * *

_

_Ms. Maaya clapped her hands to get the attention of the orphans. Slowly the room quieted down. She smiled, turned her head toward her guests, and announced, "This is Mr. Gozaburo. You may have heard of his name before, but whether or not you did does not matter, Today this good man is here to adopt one of you. He will talk to you in the next hour to decide. Just act normal."_

_"Normal," Seto laughed silently. The room was eerily silent after the speech. Everyone played with their toy half heartedly, taking nervous glances at the strangers. Seto observed the visitors movement silently. _

_"I don't like that man. He looks scary," Mokuba muttered in Seto's ear._

_"Do you know who he is?" Seto asked gently without turning to his brother._

_"A scary looking man," Mokuba replied moodily._

_Seto __snickered softly. "He is also one of the riches man in the world," Seto said, taking a glance at the large man at the other end of the room. _

_"I don't care. He has scary eyes. Why is he always staring at us anyway?" Mokuba asked. Frightened, he hid behind his brother's back. _

_"Because he is interested in me," Seto replied knowingly. _

_"But you are just going deny him right like you did with the other parents? Right?" Mokuba asked, clutching Seto's shirt tight, his looked at his brother with pleading eyes. _

_Seto__ turned away. "You know Mokuba, we cannot say in the orphanage forever… One day they will make us go," Seto began, his voice low and wistful. _

_"I know but I don't want to live with scary looking man!" Mokuba cried._

_Seto__ shushed the child."What if he is the only one who will adopt us both? Normal people don't have enough money to adopt two kids at once Mokuba. One day I will have to agree to someone who can only adopt me. If I can convince him to adopt us both…" Seto broke off and turned around to look at his brother._

_Mokuba__ looked at his brother, then at the floor then at his brother again. "I guess being together is better than nothing. But you won't agree if he refuses to adopt me too right? You won't leave me alone right?" Mokuba asked, his voice hopeful. _

_Seto__ shook his head and squeeze his little brother's shoulder reassuringly. "Of course not." He stole a quick glanced at Gozaburo again. "Do you want to play chess, Mokuba?"

* * *

_

_Seto__ shook his head. "No, don't move your queen," Seto said patiently, "If you do that my rock can take her. You want to move something else to defend your king."_

_Mokuba__ pulled his hand back from the chess piece. He silently looked at the chessboard. His eyebrows moved together and he thought hard. Nothing. His mind remained blank. He couldn't think of any other possible moves. Not that he was good at the game in any case, his brother always win. The only difference was that he began to make crucial mistakes sooner than usual. He could not help it, his attention kept going back to the scary looking man who would always be watching them from a distance. He looked up to his brother. "I don't want to play anymore." _

_Taking a long, hard look at his brother, Seto nodded. "You are not concentrating anyway."_

_Mokuba__ looked down at his feet and nodded. Mokuba took another quick peek at the man and quickly retreated back behind his brother. He shuttered and buried his head in his brother's back. "I don't like him…" he said, his voice muffled by his brother's shirt. _

_Seto__ said nothing. _

_"What is your name boy?" a voice demanded. _

_Mokuba__ jumped. He looked up. Standing in front of his brother was the scary looking man. Mokuba peeked behind his brother's back. Seto replied politely, "It's Seto, Mr. Gozaburo," _

_Gozaburo__ was pleased. The boy looked at him straight in his eyes when he spoke. "I see…"_

_"That's the boy I was talking about Mr. Gozaburo," Saitou whispered, "tests indicate he has…"_

_Gozaburo__ ignored his secretary and continued talking to the boy, "Do you know what I do for a living?"_

_"You are the owner of a advance technology company," Seto replied calmly. _

_A crooked smile appeared on Gozaburo's face. For the first time in years he approved of a child. He looked at the chessboard beside the boy. _

_Seto__ saw and smirked. He was almost there, just one more step and he could secure his adoption. "Mr. Gozaburo do you like chess?"_

_Gozaburo__ laughed. He replied proudly, "I am one of the world champions you know boy. Of course I like chess."_

_"I know. I saw you on the internet," Seto replied evenly. He smiled. "Do you want to play?" He turned to his brother. "You see, my brother is not that good in chess, and I really want to play someone good." _

_Mokuba__ blinked. He was too scared to speak._

_"Okay, I will play with you," Gozaburo said. The boy was proving to be more interesting than he had ever imagined. "But I will not go easy on you."_

_"I did not expect you to," Seto paused. He turned toward his brother once again and asked solemnly, "But if I win would you promise to adopt us?"_

_Gozaburo__ laughed.

* * *

_

_"Everyone, from today one they will be your new young masters Seto and Mokuba," Gozaburo announced. His servants obediently bowed to the young boy. "Sho!" _

_The housekeeper walked forward. "Yes Mr. Gozaburo?"_

_"Bring Mokuba to his new bedroom," Gozaburo said. Mokuba reluctantly left his brother side and follow Sho after his brother shot him a commanding glance. Gozaburo turned to his newly adopted son as he began to walk up the stairs, "Seto, you follow me up to my study."_

_Seto__ nodded and followed._

_

* * *

_

_"You will have to go to school soon," Gozaburo said when he sat down in his study. "School should start next week after we meet the principle. You will have to do an entrance test, Seto. I don't like buying you into a school. It's bad for business if anyone finds out. But you should not have any problems with that. We will go first thing Monday."_

_"Yes Mr. Gozaburo - "_

_"Say father, next time Seto, you are my son now," Gozaburo interrupted with a side way smile._

_"Yes father," Seto said steadily._

_Gozaburo__ smiled. "I will get your brother to the kindergarten, he is five after all, of course. After we meet the school principle on Monday I will bring you to a tour of Kaiba Corporation. Your brother cannot come though."_

_Seto__ nodded._

_"Any question?"_

_Seto__ thought for a moment. "I have been wondering one thing for a long time…" Seto began slowly. He walked toward the window overlooking the city and the ocean. "About that chess game…" He looked out from the window. "The queen… You moved your knight. But you must have seen what I was planning to do with your queen. I saw your hand pausing on top of the queen. Why didn't you move it? Why did you let me win?"_

_Gozaburo's__ lips twisted into a smirk. "You noticed," he added in a raspy voice, "I was hoping you would notice… Yes, I let you win. I could have just easily moved that queen, and the game would continue. You were putting up a good fight, but I would probably win at the end. But I didn't… Do you know why?"_

_"You want me to win because you have already decided to adopt me…" Seto said with a mild smile._

_Gozaburo__ laughed coldly. "Know this, boy. This will be your lesson for today. As easily as I have bring you out of the orphanage, as easily as I can bring you back in there. I do not take mistakes lightly, I hope you will not be a disappointment."_

_Seto__ nodded. "I understand… father."

* * *

_

The dark room was filled with computer, and with so many computers, so many screens, the room looked claustrophobic and suffocating. Yet, a teenager was sitting comfortable in a leather chair in front of the machines, content, at ease. The light from the monitors gave an eerily glow to his face.

"Various players challenged you in Desolated Tale. You are getting quite famous. Your ID number is everywhere on the BBS. The administrators are building up firewalls just to block your access to the servers due to your rampage," said a mechanical voice.

A smile slowly stretched along his face. "If they think firewalls will stop me from logging in to a server I wish to access," He laughed dryly. "Log on to Desolated Tales, to Dungeons of Illusions server. Those paper works put me in a rather violent mood tonight…"

* * *

Not the end

* * *

Did you guys like Mokuba in this story? What do you think about Seto playing video games? What do you think about Gozaburo in my story? Review andtell me what you think. 


	6. Everyone's Fool

Disclaimers: Yugioh is owned by its respective owners (sorry I am getting too tried to make some sort of creative disclaimer).

* * *

**Chapter Six – Everyone's Fool**

* * *

"The ministry of Egyptian Archaeology is a government agency, founded in 1858, to stop treasure hunters and tome robbers from robbing our tombs. Today, our services have extended to monitoring all archaeological digging sites in the world," said Isis Ishtar, a civil woman with long dark hair, in a modest dress and an Egyptian tan. Behind her were her two bodyguards. 

She was a typical business woman, a special class of women that became more common everyday. Her smooth attitude was nothing new to Seto. He had, in his career, met many such women. What surprised him, however slightly, was her age. Consider her high position in the Egyptian government even Seto had to admit that Isis Ishtar was extremely young.

Her age and her accomplishments earned her a certain degree of respect from Seto. That and the promise of an extremely rare card kept Seto's attention to the speeches even if they were meaningless in his opinion. He decided to remain professional and relatively civil.

Relatively, that is, not entirely.

"If you are going to talk about mummies, Miss Ishtar, I am not interested," he interrupted coldly, "I don't care about some stupid three thousand years old mummies, or some broken stone tablets. I only care about state of the art technology." He added mockingly, "Unlike you my time is actually valuable. You are wasting my time."

The body guards behind the woman stiffened at the offensive tone. Seto smirked. The body guards glared. Seto's body guard also became hostile. Isis Ishtar closed her eyes and raised her hand to signal her guards to back down. She replied in relative good humour, "Mr. Kaiba, please do not worry. By the end of the night I promise you that you will not be disappointed. Besides, it is my knowledge that aside from state of the art technology you also hold interest in a certain card game."

Seto sneered.

If the curator was offended by his rude behaviour, she hid it well. She was able to put a smile on her face as she continued, "Do you know that Duel Monster Cards, originated in Egypt?"

"You are lying," he said flatly.

A sardonic smile crept onto her face. "The items that I will show you in a moment are from a tomb of an 18th dynasty Pharaoh, they are a part of a mural in the tomb." She smirked. "I wonder what sort of reactions you will have…" She turned to her bodyguards and signalled them to stay outside before entering a dark room alone.

He followed her curiously, leaving his bodyguard outside as well. The woman turned on the flood lights. Suddenly he could see large stone tablets in front of him. His eyes grew wide. Behind him a haughty voice asked, "What do you think these monster looks like Mr. Kaiba?"

"Duel monster…" Seto said under his breath, too shock to make any intelligent come backs.

"That is correct Mr. Kaiba, they are duel monster," Isis Ishtar said in mocking but weary tone, as one used to explain something to an ignorant child.

In his dismay Seto let the comment pass as he dumbly stared at the tablet. The woman continued peculiarly, "In Ancient Egypt, people believed that disasters were caused by evil monsters housed in human's hearts. The pharaohs and sorcerers sculpted pictures of the monsters on stone tablet in hope to seal these monsters away and maintain peace. It worked marvellously, and there was peace until the high priests exploited the tablets as means of power."

She turned and walked toward the tablet on her left. "This depicts the battle between the pharaoh and a high priest."

Seto slowly followed. He looked at the tablet of the pharaoh and the high priest. Instantly in brain made connections. He could recognize the pharaoh – but that was impossible. It was stupid. It must be a joke. It was Yugi. Unconsciously, he said his thoughts out loud.

"I don't know who Yugi is, but I have always thought that the pharaoh looked rather lively on this tablet," Isis commented quietly. She looked up at the characters on the tablet. "Egypt is a land of rich history. All I know is that he was a pharaoh from the eighteenth dynasty."

"A pharaoh?" Again he said his thought out loud.

"Yes, a pharaoh," Isis agreed.

"Pharaoh?" He repeated furiously. A joke? The minister was playing a joke on him – Seto Kaiba – he who everyone treated with utmost respect and seriousness? His voice raise as he continued, "That is Yugi. There is no way he is a pharaoh." The laws of science and logic would not allow such to be possible. It must be a lie! "You can't even convincingly prove that this tablet is three thousand years old! Any DNA from the people who carved out these tablets would be long gone! You cannot use carbon dating on these rocks! You can not prove that these rocks are really from The 18th Dynasty!"

"Mr. Kaiba, there is no need for you to be so sensitive," Isis said calmly, looking thoughtfully at the tablet, "This tablet may also concern you."

Seto followed her gaze.

There was a blue eye white dragon facing a dark magician. Below them was the pharaoh, and facing him, a young man. His mind began to make connections. The resemblances between him and the figure were remarkable, but his logic caught him quickly; the illusions faded and suddenly he was angry.

It was all a cruel joke the woman was playing on him and she was obviously enjoying the game.

* * *

_Every summer thousands of parents would stress about getting their children into a Japanese private school. Japanese private schools, in general, are not hard to get into, after all, there are so many. The real reason why there are thousands of stressed parents is the fact that there are only a handful of private schools they want their children to be in. There are only a few schools that can actually guarantee a good future. These schools are all large, old schools with good reputations. They provide education not only in elementary and secondary level but also in kindergarten and university levels. Each year a few hundreds children would try to enter the school but only a few would be accepted. _

_One of such schools is the Rikkyo School. _

_If there were little students entering the school in the beginning of the year then __there were almost no students entering the school in the middle of the year; however, occasionally, if the child is smart enough an exception would be made._

_Seto looked up at the teacher. She was a middle aged woman, probably with a lot of experiences. He could tell she was a caring teacher by her voice and her manner in talking. The students instantly became silent when they walked into the room. The grade-five class stood up, bowed, and greeted the teacher. When the class settled back down on their seats she began, "We have a new student." _

_The class was dead silent. A new classmate was rare. They stared at their new classmate anxiously. Seto stared back at them steadily. After being at the center of unwanted attention he knew exactly how to overcome the curiosity. "My name is Seto Takashi," he said quietly before heading to his seat at the back of the classroom.

* * *

_

_"How was your first day of school?" Gozaburo asked behind his desk, taking a quick glance at the boy who entered his office before returning to his stacks of paper work._

_"It was good," Seto replied simply, he was not lying. The day went by much better than he anticipated._

_"Your tutor will be here soon. As I told you yesterday, you will have tutors for extra education. This one is one of the top economists in Japan. You should be honour by his presence." Another thought came to Gozaburo, "You kept your name a secret I trust?" _

_"Yes, father, I did," Seto replied. _

_"Good," Gozaburo said without looking up. He began a long speech about his worries of rumours. He did not want to hear any rumours of his newly adopted son. He did not want anyone to believe that Seto was only admitted into Rikkyo Elementary School because of his newly acquired last name. For that reason, Seto was brought to school by one of the employees in Kaiba Corporation by foot each day until the right time arrived. _

_Seto, having nothing better to study but his adoptive father or his desk chose to look at the latter. The desk was made of dark red wood. On the desk there were three stacks of paper, a laptop, a pen holder, a burned cigar on the ash tray, and a picture frame facing away. He wondered what the picture was of. As if answering his question, the picture frame suddenly fell onto the floor, face down. Seto rushed to pick it up, but another hand, a bigger hand, picked the frame up instead._

_Gozaburo held the frame lovingly for a moment before putting the picture frame slowly back on the table. Seto stared silently. Suddenly Gozaburo looked up. At first confused, as if awoken up from a long dream; then, a hideous expression grew on his face – "You are dismissed."

* * *

_

_"This is the sixth floor, this is where the grade sixes studies," said Haruko, Seto's guide to the school. Seto nodded timidly. "I hope you like this school. It is a pretty big school. There is a lot of homework sometimes, but Hoshi and I still like school in general." _

_Hoshi spoke up, "I am sorry about not being able to do this tour yesterday." The girl gave him an apologetic smile. "We had track meeting yesterday at lunch, coach forbid us to miss yesterday's meeting. I am really sorry."_

_"It's okay," Seto said uncomfortably, his head bowed, not knowing how to treat the friendly conversations. _

_Suddenly the girls squealed. Seto looked up. Standing about twenty feet away from them, and engaged in a seemingly interesting conversation with the teacher, stood a tall, confident boy. "That's Kazuhiro," muttered one of the girls.. _

_"Yeah!" chipped Hoshi, "He is the coolest, nicest, most gentlemanlike boy in our school. One year older than us."_

_"Plus he is rich and handsome!" Haruko added. The girls giggled. _

_Seto could not help but rolled his eyes. Silliness seemed to be one of human's nature. Another squeal broke his thoughts. Seto looked up again. Kazuhiro was approaching them. "Hello girls," he said charmingly. _

_Seto looked at the girls with their dreamy but shock expression. He was worried that the girls might faint, but they did not. Eventually they recovered themselves. "Hello Kazuhiro," they both replied shyly, both turning quiet red._

_Seto almost laughed. _

_"Would you like to introduce me to your friend there?" _

_Still in awe, the girls did not response right away. Haruko was the first to answer, "He is Seto, the new student in our class."_

_"Oh! So you are the boy I have been hearing so much about in the last two days! The principle said that you are the smartest boy he has ever seen entering the school," Kazuhiro said quickly, as he shook Seto's hand. "My name is Kazuhiro, the student council president."

* * *

_

_"Master Seto, you must quickly get change and get ready for your Karate class. The class will start in half an hour," Sho, the housekeeper said to the boy. Seto nodded wearily as he took off his shoes. "Then at four you have science tutoring, at five thirty you have philosophy class."_

_Seto sighed in despair and said bitingly, "And then at seven I have half an hour of dinner before I have to start on my homework, which I will have to do until at least nine and then –"_

_Sho__ put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder soothingly. "Your mind is a gift from God," he said gently and quietly, "I think he have a greater plan for you. All the hard work you do now, I am sure, God will make sure good will come out of it in the end."_

_Shaking off the comforting hand from his shoulder, Seto snorted sadistically. He turned away from the housekeeper. "There is no God, Sho," he said remotely. "God is made up by people in denial to give comfort or to give explanation to what cannot be explained."_

_"Master only wants to prepare you for your future." _

_Without turning Seto replied in a voice layered with scornfulness, "And I have willingly brought this all on myself."

* * *

_

_At one end of the long rectangular crystal table sat Gozaburo. On the other end sat Seto and Mokuba. The three ate their dinner silently. Until Mokuba, who was giving nervous glances at the "scary man" every five minutes, could not contain himself any longer and whispered bluntly to his brother, "I don't like him. He is always staring at us."_

_"Well, if you would stop glancing at him then he would stop looking at you," Seto replied, unaffected, and uncaring._

_"That's not true, look he is staring at us again," Mokuba exclaimed. _

_"No he is not. Just be quiet Mokuba," Seto replied sternly, annoyed._

_Gozaburo was curious about the whispering between the brothers. He began, "Why are you not eating Seto? You are eating even less than your brother. Do you not like your food? If you like something special just tell the kitchen." Mokuba recoiled. Gozaburo had a way to intimidate people._

_Unaffected, Seto continued to pick at his food and replied softly, "No, it's perfectly fine. I like the food. I just never eat much." _

_"What were you guys talking about back then?" Gozaburo asked slyly in a casual tone after a few moments of silence._

_The five year old did not know the definition of rudeness, especially when he disliked the questioner with all his heart. Mokuba immediately replied in utmost honesty, "I was just saying that you –"_

_"Serve the best food we have ever eaten," Seto quickly cut in._

_Gozaburo looked doubtful. "What were you about to say before your brother rudely interrupted, Mokuba?"_

_Seto gave Mokuba a firm look. Far from stupid, Mokuba instantly sensed his brother's displeasure. "I was just saying that you must be really rich to serve us all these nice food." Mokuba lied and after he thought for a moment he added, "What is this dish of brown jelly-like substance?" The orphanage was certainly not a place of fine food._

_"It is chocolate pudding," Seto replied, flushed, embarrassed by his brother's question. Chocolate pudding was nothing special; Seto had eaten the dessert many times in his youth. Unfortunately, growing up in an orphanage, Mokuba never tasted a large variety of food._

_Gozaburo seemed rather amused._

_Mokuba took a small bite before gulping down the rest of the dish. "Can I have another dish?" he asked, chocolate covered his face._

_"Of course," Gozaburo replied, "But you must be a good boy and not bother Seto when he is studying, you also have to do all your homework, and listen to what I say."_

_The five year old thought for a while, and finally nodded. It was not hard to offend achild or gainthe child'slove. Gozaburo instantly won Mokuba over when he asked his servant to bring in another dish of chocolate pudding. He laughed silently at the naïve boy. It was so cheap to buy him over._

_Seto frowned at his brother but said nothing. _

_Turning his attention to the heir Gozaburo said, "Well Seto, you better hurry up, your math tutor is coming in fifteen minutes," he said, taking a look at his watch. "You finished your homework in the afternoon, right?" _

_"Yes, Father," Seto said quietly, watching his brother happily eating pudding. A pang of jealousy hit him, but he quickly pushed the feeling away, they were inappropriate, after all. He stood up and glanced at Gozaburo's unreadable face before he added, "I will go get prepared now."

* * *

_

_Award ceremonies – the birth place of jealousy. _

_"And this year top debater of the inner school debate is Seto Takashi," announced the principle. _

_Seto stood up slowly from his seat and walked up and across the stage to shake hands with Kazuhiro, the three times winner of the award. He did not know how to react when he saw the sour look on the older boy's face. They shook hands stiffly. When Seto once again turned to his schoolmates, the parents and the teachers, he thought he saw half of the female student population glaring at him with a bitter look. _

_Ignoring the glares, he received his certificate and went back to his seat silently. His classmates roughly slapped his back as congratulation. A faint smile appeared on his face. _

_The award ceremony ended with everyone enjoying western pastry and cakes. Seto walked around the hall alone quietly, occationally, he stopped to talk to his classmates to keep himself from feeling too lonely. Unfortunately, feeling out of place, these conversations were short living, and as quickly as the conversation began Seto would fade into the surroundings. Finally he settled down at a quiet corner and quietly took amusement in observing others. _

_He looked around the room and saw, not too far away from him his adoptive father engaged in a conversation with a stranger. He carefully listened in their conversation. _

_"What brings you here Mr. Gozaburo?" asked the man._

_"Private business," Gozaburo replied with a mysterious smile. He returned civilly, "What brings you here?"_

_"My son, he attends this school," the man replied. "I think – " He noticed his son walking close by and called for him. "This is my son, Kazuhiro, Mr. Kaiba, he will inherit my company when the day comes," the man introduced. _

_"I recognize you. You are the one who went up the stages so many times today," Gozaburo commented as he shook hands with the boy._

_"And I heard a lot about you from my father, Mr. Kaiba. He said you are one of the best business partners he has. I hope I will be able to work with you sometimes," Kazuhiro replied smoothly._

_Gozaburo laughed. "So young and you already know how to please people. I think he will be a fine heir… My son is about the same age as you."_

_"You have a son Mr. Kaiba?" the man asked. "I never knew that before. Is he the reason why you are here today?"_

_"I adopted him just a few months ago. It was meant to be a secret, so I am not surprise you do not know," Gozaburo replied causally. "It took me a long time to find a kid who it would not be torture for me to spend time with in the orphanages. He is extremely valuable to me." _

_Gozaburo smiled wryly as he watched his son walked towards them. He proudly laid his hand on his adoptive son's shoulder, as if he was showing off his property. "This is Seto," he introduced proudly. "And this, Seto, is the world famous Mr. Hashimoto."_

_Seto's eyes grew wide – He heard the name Hashimoto before. He heard his names in the news and from one of his tutors. "The Hashimoto family owns one fifth of all Japanese high-tech industries in one way or another," his tutor's voice whispered in his head. He quickly bowed. _

_"Oh! So you are Mr. Kaiba's son!" Mr. Hashimoto said with a smile, "I should have known, after all, Mr. Kaiba would only make the brightest to be his son." Mr. Hashimoto turned to his son, who had an astonished expression on his face. "Kazuhiro, you are going to the national debate with Seto right?"_

_The boy nodded dully, but the two adults already walked off, talking about businesses, leaving the two equally surprised boys staring at each other. In time, they recovered enough to realize how quiet the hall grew. Everyone seemed to be staring, stupefied. The girls seemed on the verge of squealing, the boys simply stare, but either case they gave the two the highest respect._

_There was only one solution to a tense situation such as this – laughter. After bringing the whole hall into laughter, Seto smirked and said, "I hope we can be friends instead of rivals, Kazuhiro Hashimoto." He put an emphasis on "Hashimoto"._

_Kazuhiro smirked back.

* * *

_

_"We will go over some trigonometry next class. I think you already know how to do them, of course, but we will still go over them, just for revision. Bring you calculator. Good night," the math tutor said._

_Seto bowed and walked out of the study, holding his books tight against his chest. He looked at his watch. It was nine thirty. He should be able to finish his homework in an hour and a half. He bit his lips and sighed as he slowly walked back to his room. _

_"Seto," muttered a small voice behind him. _

_Startled, he turned around. "Mokuba!" he exclaimed in a loud whisper. "Why are you here? You should be in your bed by now!"_

_"I followed you here," his little brother in his pyjamas replied. He paused and pointed at the door he asked innocently, "What is in this room? You come here everyday."_

_Seto rolled his eyes. "There's nothing worth seeing in this room," He said irritatingly and quickly changed the topic. Gently laying a hand on his brother's shoulder, he led his brother back to his room. "Now, come on, you should be sleeping by now." _

_The five year old shook his head and refused to move. "I don't want to."_

_"Mokuba, you must, you have school tomorrow," Seto said patiently; lightly pushed his brother toward his bed. _

_The little boy refused to budge. "But big brother I don't want to, can you play with me for a bit? Or read me a bed time story like you used to?"_

_Remembering his pile of homework still lying unfinished on his desk, Seto shook his head. "No, Mokuba, I am busy."_

_Mokuba pouted and exclaimed sulkily, "But you have been busy for the last five weeks!" _

_"Well I can't help it if I am busy," Seto defended himself. He bit his lips and urged, "Come on, you should be in bed now."_

_His little brother ignored him and grumpily turned away._

_"Mokuba…" Seto kneeled down and turn the boy toward him. _

_The boy looked at him and moodily looked away. Refusing to answer and refusing to move._

_"I have a lot of homework these days. I don't have time to play any more," Seto said softly, overlooking his brother's tantrum. "From now on, if you want to hear a bed time story, tell one of the maids to tell you one. Marie is a nice person. She would tell you a wonderful story if you ask."_

_"But I want you to tell me a story. I don't want anyone else to tell me a story," Mokuba replied moodily without looking at the listener. _

_"I can't Mokuba. Can't you see I am busy all the time? I hardly have enough time to finish my dinner," Seto asked timidly. _

_"That's not fair!" Mokuba cried. _

_"No. Life is not fair," Seto agreed coldly. The sudden change of mood scared Mokuba and in an instant he found tears swelling in his eyes. Seto sighed and stood up. Peering down at his brother he added bitterly, "How about this – We switch place – I would get your toys and chocolate puddings while you would get my homework and books?"_

_Mokuba shook his head silently. With his head bowed he sluggishly walked to his poster bed. Satisfied, Seto walked out of the room. When the door closed, the five year old could not longer contain his tears and he cried himself to sleep._

_Upon reaching his own room, Seto slammed the door shut and threw his books on his bed. He stomped toward his desk and began on his homework, still fuming. "He has no right to say the world is not fair," he muttered angrily to the empty room. "I was busy because of him; I am only obeying Gozaburo because I want Mokuba to grow up with a good home, good food, good school, and good environment…" _

_"I am not doing any of the work for myself… right?"

* * *

_

"Miss Ishtar… As the minister of Egyptian Archaeology, if you only invited me here to talk about magic, and fantasies, then you are wasting your time," Seto said wryly, "I can be working on my holographic machines as this very moment." He turned around, annoyed, irritated, and began walking out of the room.

Isis replied in an unconcerned manner. "You must have heard about the three dragon God cards…" Seto stopped walking and listened. Isis continued, "These cards are extremely powerful and have the power to do good or evil. Pegasus J. Crawford realized that and was scared of their power. He wished to destroy them. But he failed, so he entrusted the cards to dispose to dispose in the Valley of Kings where they came from…" She sighed. "But they were stolen."

"Cards that even Pegasus feared… who stole them?" Seto asked, finally in a respective tone free of sarcasm.

"Ghouls…" Isis replied softly, "I trust you have heard of them."

"They are the underground organization that steals rare cards and sells them in the black market," Seto replied, in equal softness of tone.

"Mr. Kaiba. I need your help. For the sovereignty of the Egyptian government and the wishes of Pegasus J. Crawford, I wish to regain the stolen cards." She turned to look at the tablet. "I have a feeling that this tablet will attract duellist from everywhere."

Seto smirked. "So what you are implying is for me to change this city into a duelling stage," he continued smugly, "You are hoping that Ghouls would follow the rare cards owned by the duellists to this city – for example my blue eyes white dragon."

"That is why…" Isis said as she took out a card. "I am going to give you this card."

Seto unconsciously gasped. It was The God of Obelisk. He shakily took the card from Isis's hand.

"I thought the God cards were stolen…" Seto commented, flabbergasted.

"All but one," Isis replied. "To retrieve the other two, I am going to lent you this card."

The word "lent" rung in Seto's ears. He chuckled. "You are going to trust me just like this, Isis Ishtar?" He smirked. "What if, when I obtain the other two God cards and refuse to give them to you…" His smirk widened as his voice became sardonic, "What can you do then?"

Isis smiled and replied in an assured voice, "I trust you."

Seto snorted but said nothing. How naive it was for her to trust him.He was certain about two things in his mind, the first was that Isis Ishtar was unquestionably losing inher own game, the second was that she wasundoubtedly afool.

* * *

Not the end

* * *

If you have any questions please ask, I would defiantly give you are e-mail in reply. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you give me a review.


	7. Unanswered Question

Disclaimers: Yugioh the series was not mine yesterday, it is not mine today and will not be mine forever after.

* * *

**Chapter Seven – Unanswered Question**

* * *

"Master Kaiba," reported the helicopter pilot, "We are approaching district F section five three six two." 

He nodded subtly, preoccupied. He had been preoccupied ever since the end of the last duel against two despicable masked men. "The power of friendship" and "the power of teams" the two terms rang endlessly in his mind, like irritating bees buzzing beside his ears.

Then there was the unanswered question.

Fighting has always been a mean to protect something important to mankind every since prehistoric time. Human beings fought for food, for shelters, and happiness, and for their life. That was why he asked the question, a question that had been floating in his head ever since he met Yugi.

"I have a question," he said softly, in a very uncharacteristic manner. "What if the friends you are trying to protect attack you?" he asked, "What if there comes a point where you know you cannot go forward if you do not defeat them?" His voice came to almost a whisper when he asked the third question, "Would you end up stepping on their corpses to walk forward?"

Yugi could not answer the questions back on the roof top.

"Big brother, you already got the six puzzle pieces, why are we trying to find Joey instead of going straight to the finals?" his little brother asked curiously, finding his brother's silence slightly unnerving.

A smirk slowly appeared on Seto's face. "Because the 'answer' is there."

"The answer?" his brother repeated timidly.

Seto said nothing. Instead, he glanced at his rival who was staring anxiously out the window. Unmistakably, Yugi was worried, worried about his friends.

Friends… such an unfamiliar word, the word did not emerge from his mind for a long time. It was strange that he should contemplate on the word at all, and it was absolutely unthinkable that he wished to seek answers about aspects of friendship from Yugi, his arc rival.

The sky must be falling.

The circumstance was odd in itself. He had never dreamed in a million years that he would work together with Yugi in a duel. His heart had been set on defeating him, not cooperating with him. Perhaps the strangest fact of all was how he invited Yugi onto his helicopter without any evil plots or malevolent intentions. He was actually helping Yugi to find his friends, for once, willingly, without any begging from Mokuba.

Hell must have frozen over.

"Or not," he mused silently, slightly amused by his own thoughts. He remembered the true another reason why he invited Yugi Motou onto his helicopter – He wanted to prove his pessimistic view on friendship correct, and shatter the dreaded doubts which had built up ever since he met his rival.

"Yugi," he commented coldly, "The leader of that underground organization… his name is Malik Ishtar isn't it?" He did not wait for the answer and continued in a soft voice, "I suppose, he is also my enemy… how much do you know about him, the one with the God of Ra card?"

"I never saw him before with my own eyes," Yugi replied without turning his head. "I only know that he has a millennium item… just like me…"

"Millennium item?" Seto snorted. "Those superstitions?"

Yugi ignored his comment and continued, "His millennium rod is extremely powerful."

Seto instantly knew the power Yugi was worried about – he had heard the most ridiculous and outrageous reports from his men. He replied sceptically, "The power to brainwash people?" A smirk appeared on his face as he thought of a new way to aggravate Yugi. "But, I guess if he does have the power as you said he does… He would probably brainwash Joey Wheeler, and set him against you, what will you do?" Seto laughed disdainfully. He could feel Yugi's temper rising beside him, but just to make sure he would say something indignantly Seto added, "Interesting, I will see what sort of amusement he would create this time."

"Kaiba!" Yugi raged, "No matter what happens, I will save Joey, even if it means sacrificing myself!"

"Yugi, I understand perfectly," Seto said with a smirk, "You could not answer my questions because you have contradicting feelings on the matter yourself."

Yugi seemed shock.

Seto continued, "You told me all about the 'power of teams' when we were fighting against the masked men." Seto paused and sneered. "Unfortunately, in this situation… you must fight Joey Wheeler in a battle." He laughed scornfully. "Isn't the 'power of teams' or the 'power of friendship' forces that are working against you now?"

Yugi didn't answer. Seto continued his taunts, "Let me tell you the truth… Why do you think human beings fight? Why do they want to win? It is all because they want to preserve themselves!" He laughed again, this time bitterly. "I want to hear your 'answer' now. But first I suppose I should allow you to finish your little battle against friendship…"

_

* * *

"That was the most spectacular debate I have ever went to!" the principle exclaimed, as he walked towards his school's representatives in the busy hallway. "Mr. Kaiba, your rebuttal to the opposing teams was beautiful." _

_The two teenagers exchanged secretive glances and laughed._

_"Mr. Furuhashi, it was nothing. If it was not for Kazuhiro's quick thinking I would not have made any rebuts," Seto replied with a smile._

_"What are you talking about Seto, you elaborated so much on my original rebuts that I could hardly recognize them," Kazuhiro quickly replied. _

_"I am proud of you son," a grinning Mr. Hashimoto joined in, "That was a brilliant come back. For a moment there I thought there was no hope." _

_Seto noticed a slight change of colour on his friend's face as he hastily cried, "Father you are making me embarrassed!" _

_Seto laughed silently. Whenever Mr. Hashimoto talked about his son there was certain warmth – the same warmth he could vaguely remember from his past… He closed his eyes. _

_Life was not fair. _

_He could hardly remember his parent's faces now, especially his mother's, he realized. Only their voices, they sometimes rang in his head like a broken record. Only their voices… He bit his lips and pushed the bitter thoughts out of his mind. No, he would not be envious of Kazuhiro's family. He would not feel sorry for himself. _

_"Seto are you alright?" Kazuhiro concerned voice cut through the air. _

_Seto opened his eyes promptly and nodded. "I am just a bit tired," Seto replied with a sheepish smile. Deciding with confedience that he should not be jealous of Kazuhiro, after all, he is a good friend._

_

* * *

Gozaburo looked through the file in his hand slowly, in an unhurried manner. Unquestionably, he was aware of the fact his adopted son had been standing in front of him for the last half an hour, waiting to be dismissed, but simply knowing meant nothing. He did not smile, but he was smiling inwardly. Work well done translated directly to money, he knew. The boy's brain was surely one of his best qualities. _

_He took a glance at Seto standing across from him. The boy looked rather bored but did not act on his boredom except for his occasional glances at the door. Gozaburo smiled again. Another good quality - he was patient._

_Finally, Gozaburo threw the folder onto her desk. He looked at the teenager with unreadable eyes. Eventually he began his speech, "I looked over the project, Seto, and I must say it was," he paused before he added with some deliberation, "Good." _

_"Thank you," Seto replied stiffly. Gozaburo laughed inwardly a third time. _

_The boy was definitely interesting, definitely worthy to be his successor. _

_Mr. Gozaburo continued, "Mr. Saitou praised you to no ends. He said you are talented and he begged me to let you have a time at the lab… He said you are ready." _

_Seto said nothing. Gozaburo noted another point in his mental list: he is humble, before continuing, "Mr. Furugori is highly against the idea, but seeing that you did help complete the equation ahead of schedule I will make an exception to the rules and I will let your next project be done in the lab. You will be under the guidance of Mr. Saitou, of course, but you will be given authority over a group of lab technicians."_

_"Thank you, father," Seto replied__ quietly._

_"With that's said let's talk about the next project…" but seeing Seto was distracted, he paused. "What do you want to ask?"_

_"Father," Seto said, choosing his words with care as he continued, "Can I please have a rest before I start with the next project?" _

_Gozaburo frowned slightly. _

_Disobedient… that was certainly something new. But now he thought about it, recently his son had been harder to control. It all began when Seto started associating with that kid… what was his name again? Kazume? Kazuhiru? Just a few days ago he had disobeyed him by arriving home late. He seriously regretted introducing the kid to Hashimoto… _

_Especially now when Hashimoto had ended its partnership with Kaiba Corporation. _

_"No, Seto, you must start your next project now," Gozaburo replied smoothly, leaving no place for argument. _

_

* * *

"I have so much homework today; I think the teachers just want to kill me or something… I think that…" Kazuhiro complained. _

_"Yeah I am sure they are," Seto replied softly before he drifted off and yawned._

_"Eleventh times," Kazuhiro commented casually._

_"What?" Seto asked as he massaged his eyes tenderly._

_Kazuhiro sighed deeply then explained, "That was the eleventh times you yawned in the break," he frowned a little, "are you sick?" _

_Seto yawned again before replying wearily,"Nope. Just slept a bit late yesterday night, I was finishing a project."_

_"Just a bit late?"__ Kazuhiro replied with a quick roll of eyes, he was definitely not convinced. "You are seriously going to kill yourself one of these days with those secret projects you work on." _

_Seto chuckled bitterly. "I am alright…" It was not like he wanted to do those projects. No. If he had a choice he would not do anything. He looked at Kazuhiro, who seemed so perfectly rested. Once again he found himself jealous and began to find the teenager beside him annoying… _

_"Anyway, as I was saying, I have an essay due tomorrow and three tests! I don't know how I will survive…"_

_Especially his complains. After all, Kazuhiro should have no rights to complain! He was the one who was forced to do extra projects. He was the one who was always under stress… He was the one… "Shut up about your complaining already," Seto snapped._

_Kazuhiro became quiet. He looked at Seto for a moment. He understood. Quickly his expression turned into one of guilt. "I… I am sorry… I don't have any rights to complain do I…"_

_Seto looked at his friend and suddenly he felt ashamed of himself. Kazuhiro did not force him to do the extra works - Gozaburo did, he was angry at the wrong person. His face softened. "I am sorry for snapping, I am just really tired today," Seto said with a weary smile, "I just need more sleep."_

_

* * *

"Your first lab work, Seto, you should be honour, normally Mr. Gozaburo would not let anyone without a doctoral degree in the lab room, but he approve on the appointment," said the teacher elastically, "We will be starting our work next week. In the mean time we will be going over the project." _

_"Oh what are we going to do?" Seto asked sarcastically, "Improve the design of nuclear missiles? Or are we going to work on the formulas to maximize the distance of guided missiles?"_

_"You know better Mr. Kaiba! Kaiba corporation does not produces nuclear missiles," Mr. Saitou scowled solemnly, "As for guided missiles, we have already tried working out a part of the formula a few weeks before along with the scientist..." he paused when he noticed Seto was no longer in his seat and instead next to the window. "Are you listening Seto?"_

_"Yes, Mr. Saitou. And I also know that we finished the last project three weeks before expected date. Mr. Kaiba is extremely satisfied by that, given our formula improved the efficiency of the missiles by at least twenty percent. This is why he is allowing me to have this wonderful opportunity," Seto replied coldly as he sat back down on his chair._

_The old scientist flushed. He said when he was once again composed, "Young man, we have a problem." Seto said nothing. Mr. Saitou finally continued after a full minute of silence, "Our problem is that you give no respect for me or any one else we worked with ever since your first project when you demonstrated your potential." He paused and was about to say more when he saw the slanted smile on his pupil's face._

_"Mr. Saitou," Seto replied, his crocked smile still on his face, "You are largely mistaken. I do have high respect for you or any other great scientists," Seto stood up and walked toward the tall windows again. He laughed darkly. "But I am the one I have no respect for. My conscience and moral screams but I all I do is act like I never heard them…" He snorted disdainfully. "I have sold my soul to the devil." _

_

* * *

"Did you see that game everyone is playing these days?" _

_Seto glanced at a small group of boys on his left. He raised his eyebrow. "You mean that card game?" _

_Kazuhiro nodded. "What do you think about it?"_

_"A bit tedious?"__ Seto replied with a smirk, "So simple and straight forward…"_

_"You think so too? I am glad I am not the only one. Then I guess I will not waste my money on it…" he paused when he passed by yet another group of duellist. He turned away and quickly added, "I head they are way overpriced. It is such a waste of money."_

_"And neither am…" Seto replied, but he was also distracted with yet another pair of card players. He turned back to Kazuhiro, and added feebly, "No. Of course I am not going to get anything."_

_

* * *

Seto walked into his home. He looked at his watch – it was almost seven – he was three hours later than normal. It was all because of that new RPG Kazuhiro bought – Dreams of Immortal it was called. The game was extremely addictive and the graphic was brilliant – almost good enough to be from a movie. To exceed those graphic would be almost impossible unless a company decided to explore another media. Perhaps… _

_"Ah there you are, Seto! Mr. Gozaburo has been searching for you for the last hour!" Sho cried anxiously when he saw his young master return. "He is waiting for you at his office."_

_Seto looked at the house keeper in a start. "What?" _

_"He is waiting for you at his office," Sho repeated._

_Seto winced. He was three hours late. He was not suppose to be three hours late. With faked composure he walked up the long winding marble stairs. Wondering inwardly what will happen, a lecture? A new project? Or perhaps – punishments – Seto stopped the train of thought and snorted. "It was not like Gozaburo could do anything about it," he thought rebelliously. He needed to rest so he took it. There was nothing Gozaburo could do about that. He boldly pushed the tall mahogany office door open._

_Gozaburo looked up from his work. "You are finally here," Gozaburo commented coldly. "I am here to talk about your next project… It will start tomorrow… The Japanese government has placed an order for an antidote to this poison. They promised a generous reward if… we can make it before they discover the antidote themselves."_

_Seto snorted. Gozaburo would be willing to do anything – even jumping off a bridge – if he knew he would not die – for money. "How much are they offering?"_

_Gozaburo chuckled. "Are you worried about your own reward? Don't worry, I am a fair businessman. I will give you bonus allowance every week, if you work well… Is three thousand US every two weeks for the next five months enough?" _

_"No, you are mistaken. I-"_

_"Fine.__ Five thousand, last offer, for next five months. And then I will give you a few more thousands more if you are successful," Gozaburo smiled slyly, "Remember though, Seto, you choose this path yourselves. I didn't have to adopt your brother."_

_Seto opened his mouth, but closed it on second thought. He wondered why he could not say anything, could not reject anything. His mind begged him to say something, yet his mouth would not obey, it stayed shut._

_"I knew you would accept…" Gozaburo said with a smirk as he turned his attention back to his work. "Oh yes, Seto you are three hours late. You were at Kazuhiro Hashimoto's home, I assume?" Gozaburo commented as Seto began to retreat out of the office. _

_Seto abruptly turn around. "What if I am?" Seto asked coolly. _

_"I heard from Mr. Furugori, you guys are good friends… I hope you understand Hashimoto Corporation is no longer a partner of Kaiba Corporations…" Gozaburo narrowed his eyes. "His father is now doing all he can to take our businesses. I advice you to stay away from that boy… I am warning you." He said no more._

_Returning to his room.__ Seto laughed resentfully. Enemy? No, Kazuhiro was defiantly not his enemy. He was the first person who ever understood him perfectly, his feelings, his thoughts, who he was. He was someone he respects, his first friend… his only friend. _

_For the first time in his life he did not have to amuse himself by sitting at the corner observing idiots. _

_Gozaburo was always so cruel, so greedy, so immoral, so cold, but he could not control him. Gozaburo would not do anything to his brother and him even if he refused to listen to him, after all Gozaburo needed him; he was making money for the company. As for Kazuhiro… what was the worst that Gozaburo could do? Glare at him? Snort at him? Seto shook his head silently, and chuckled. No. Gozaburo has no power to stop him what so ever. _

_

* * *

__Seto took a quick peak from the corner of the skyscraper he stood behind, on the other side, just forty five degree left of where he was standing and just across the alley stood a small, dingy shop. On top of the door was a sign with words stating: "Miko Game Boutique: video games, computer games, board games, cards and more!"_

_He could not believe himself. He was actually going to get the card game he had, just a few weeks ago, claimed he would get spend money on. The card game was, as he said before, extremely tedious, but something, he does not know what, in the game drew his attention. The feeling nagged at him for a good three weeks until finally he gave in. _

_So there he was in front of the game shop._

_He wondered why he felt so much like a thief, when he had every intension to pay for the cards. In fact, in his wallet was enough yen to probably buy the whole store. After all, he was Gozaburo's adopted son. Gozaburo may have only adopted him because he was smart, but Gozaburo was by no way a man who enjoyed depriving anyone capable. He was not the most loving and kind man in the world, but he was a good business man, and he knew little incentives could go a long way in keeping men on his side. He would much rather have the most intelligent people working for him instead of against. _

_Seto took a deep breath, then as stealth as a cat preying on a mouse, he walked across the alley and to the shop front door. He took a deep breath, once again checked his money was still in his pocket and prepared to pull the glass door open…_

_There standing at the other side of the door was Kazuhiro. Seto gasped. "Kazuhiro!"_

_"Seto… why are you here?" the surprised teenager asked._

_Seto took note of the box in his friend's hand and smirked. "I would like to ask you the exact same question… didn't you say you weren't going to spend a penny on this game?"_

_"I…" Kazuhiro stuttered, for the first time for many months actually lost in word. His face flushed red. Then shaking his head he retorted, "Well, what are you doing here?"_

_"Getting the game for my dear brother," Seto lied with a perfectly straight face. Kazuhiro pouted in disappointment. Seto laughed. "I was just kidding. I am not here for my brother. I just gave into temptation."_

_

* * *

__He stepped into the marble hallway and was preparing to go to the kitchen for a light snack before starting on his homework when he noticed Mokuba being led away up the stares by a stern man. Seto shrugged. He must be his new tutor. Gozaburo had been saying something about getting tutors for Mokuba a few weeks ago… then he heard small sobs. He looked at his brother again. His eyes looked swollen. His shoulder seemed to be shaking uncontrollably. _

_"What is happening?" he asked Mokuba's favourite maid, Mary, if he remembered correctly. The young woman stood at the foot of the stairs, looking at the two ascending figures silently. _

_"He ripped master's favourite picture," Mary replied quietly._

_Seto raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" asked Seto._

_"He was playing soccer in the house because it's raining outside today," said the maid._

_"But that picture is in a picture from in father's study! Mokuba is not even supposed to be there!" Seto almost cried out loud as he hit his forehead with his hand. _

_"Well I have no idea why he went there or how he ripped the picture but that's what happened," replied the maid, her voice became urgent. _

_Seto grumbled. His little brother is an idiot sometimes. But warnings just wouldn't stop a rebellious eight year old from getting in to trouble. He told him again and again not to go into the room, he told him not to kick balls inside the house just yesterday afternoon… but what did he do?_

_And now he accidentally ripped Gozaburo's favourite picture. It must the portrait on his desk, the picture of his deceased son and wife. Well, at least that was what he heard from Sho. He never saw the picture himself, all he saw was the back of the frame. Gozaburo was extremely protective of the picture. He swore inwardly. "Where are they leading him?"_

_"His office," said the maid, there was fear in her voice, "He was really mad, young master. I don't think I have ever seen him this angry before. I thought he would explode before he ordered Mokuba to his office."_

_Seto groaned again and without another thought he walked toward the stairs._

_"Young master, where are you going?" cried the maid, _

_"Up to his office!__ What do you think?" snapped Seto without looking back._

_"But…"_

_Seto rolled his eyes. "Shut up," Seto countered coldly. While getting hit was certainly not on his wish list or on his priority list he must find see what was happening. After all he was his little brother. He walked up to the office door where a few servants gathered, whispering to each other. "What is happening?" Seto asked quietly._

_The servants looked at each other silently and didn't answer. "What is happening?" Seto asked again this time in a more forceful tone. _

_No one answered. _

_His eyes hardened. "I asked you to answer me. So answer me!" _

_Finally, one of the servants answered, "Master took young Mokuba in the office."_

_"And?__ What is he doing to him?"_

_The servants all shook their heads silently._

_Seto snorted. "Incompetents," he muttered as he carefully opened the door and quietly stepped inside._

_A frame lay broken on the floor. The picture of a beautiful woman and a little boy with aqua hair riped in half. There were two manservant holding Mokuba down while his father held his staff threateningly. _

_"You brat!" cried Gozaburo. His face was beet red in anger. "How can you do that to that picture?" he cried furiously as he brought the staff down on Mokuba's leg angrily. Seto winced as his little brother shrieked._

_"Stop!__ Please stop!" Mokuba cried hysterically as tears streamed down his face._

_"How many times did I tell you not to go into my office? How many times did I tell you that this place is off limit?" asked the adoptive father as he bought the staff down on the child again, this time on his arm. The black haired child cried louder. _

_Seto watched in despair. He wanted to run away. His head hurt. A part of him, begged him to help his little brother but his other part, his darker side, said his brother deserved the punishment – after all he just warned him about playing soccer inside the house yesterday. He warned him with utmost seriousness._

_Then, of course, there was his bitterness about his little brother getting the better end of his deal with Gozaburo. Mokuba was always the one to sleep peacefully. Mokuba was the one to truly enjoy the wealth. Mokuba was the one to get all the chocolate puddings. _

_While Seto was forced to do the hard work. _

_His angelic side argued Gozaburo was wrong in hitting his brother… but no sooner did his good side give the argument did his wicked side give an counter argument – It was Mokuba's own recklessness that got him in trouble in the first place. There were no reasons for him to get involve and be disciplined himself when he did nothing wrong. _

_The furious and coarse voice of his adoptive father echoed through out the room like thunder. His little brother screamed again. "Stop! Please! I know I am wrong," cried Mokuba. A slap on the face. "I promise I won't do this again!" The crying grew louder. "Help Seto!" screamed his little brother. The sharp cry pierced through the air. "I promise I won't be bad anymore…no, never again…Seto! Why aren't you stopping him? I promise! I will do what you said from now on! Seto! Please make him stop!" pleaded the broken voice._

_Seto closed his eyes in dismay. He turned to leave but his brother's eyes suddenly caught him. Those pleading large eyes stared at him, hoping, begging him to do something. He could not quite bring himself to move. _

_Then suddenly a ghostly voice rang in his mind. "This is your brother, Mokuba Seto…" _

_He sighed deeply, tiredly as his darkness gave in to his virtue. Just one more time… This was the last time he was going to help his brother because he was idiotic enough to do something stupid. _

_Just one last time… _

_In a moment of frenzy Seto suddenly found himself in front of his little brother. The wooden staff missed its original victim and hit his arm instead. A sharp pain shot through his body. He bit his lips, hard. His adoptive father stared at him in shock. In truth, he was surprised himself. He gulped inwardly. He would regret his actions later._

_"What are you doing Seto?" asked Gozaburo._

_"Don't hit Mokuba anymore," Seto pleaded, his voice surprisingly calm._

_Gozaburo__ raised his hand, but he held back. _

_

* * *

Kazuhiro scanned his side of his field, before looking at Seto's empty field. "You are in a bad situation aren't you?" he said with exceeding solemnity. Seto rolled his eyes but made no comments. "Now… what should I use to end this duel?" _

_"Stop rubbing it in," Seto said threateningly. _

_Kazuhiro laughed. "Well then…" he said rather mischievously when he finally decided on a move, "I will first attack your summon skull with my super shadow ghoul. Your summon skull dies because I have eleven monsters in my graveyard…" _

_"Then you are going to attack me directly with everything you got?" Seto interrupted grumpily._

_"No, then I will use Jiden Bakudan and bring your life point down to zero, making this the most humiliating lost of the day," Kazuhiro replied with a mocking wide grin. _

_Seto narrowed his eyes and pout. "That is cheap."_

_"But you still lost. And this also prove that your offensive deck is not superior over my defensive deck," Kazuhiro said cheerily. "By the way our score is 25-25." _

_"I think we should call it a day." Seto commented wearily. His friend nodded in agreement. A sharp knock at the door startled the two. A thin black haired man walked in. Seto frowned slightly at the sight of the visitor. It was Gozaburo's right hand man, a man he never liked much. There was just something in the man's air that was forbidding, almost threatening, though Seto was really not sure what. Seto greeted with cold civility, "Mr. Furugori, what brought you here?"_

_"Sho had to run some chores so I offered to take these drinks to you," the man said with a smile, showing off his flawless teeth._

_Seto__ crocked his head and stared at the man for a moment. He never knew Mr. Furugori and Sho were friends… but perhaps he was thinking too much. He shrugged and accepted the drinks. The right hand man turned and promptly left. _

_"Here, you wanted a hot chocolate with whip cream right?" Seto offered his friend a large mug._

_"Thanks," Kazuhiro reached for the drink and after a sip he inquired. "That was an odd man, who is he?"_

_"He is my father's right hand man," Seto grunted. Taking a sip out of his mug of coffee he promptly changed the topic, "You know what that game you showed me last time, Dreams of Immortal needs, Kazuhiro?" _

_Kazuhiro snorted. "More levels?" _

_"Well that too," Seto waved his hand impatiently, "but my question was supposed to be rhetorical and what I meant was that it needs more graphics."_

_Kazuhiro raised his eyebrow. "I don't know, I think that game's graphic is pretty brilliant."_

_Seto shook his head and laughed when he realized how horrible he was at saying what he meant, "The graphic is decent but I think it is too limited by the 2-D medias."_

_"Well improving the graphic cards would definitely help I suppose…"_

_"No, what I_ _am getting at is holographic technology – the future of all video games," Seto explained, animated, his eyes eager. _

_"Holograms… well I suppose that would be the next step. I will talk to my father about this tonight…" Kazuhiro whispered in deep thoughts, completely oblivious to the effect those words had on his friend, "Father is extremely good at these things. I am sure he would be happy to develop this idea if it is possible. Father is…"_

_Seto unconsciously bit his lips as his fingers instinctively tightened around his mug. It was as if a great fog came over him, embracing him, suffocating him. He listened to his friend's innocent talk in his usual quiet and silent manner, but as hard as he tried, he could hear no comprehendible sentences, only occasional words. "Yesterday father… I just wish father would… father did… You should have seen what my mom did to my room… mother is so annoying… my mom can't cook." He was not sure why, but like fire in the dry autumn days, jealousy spread through his body spreading through his veins, unbearable, blinding his visions. His mood darkened and every word his friend said did nothing more than to irritate, to aggravate…_

_"You are lucky, Seto. Mr. Gozaburo gives you freedom. My parents are always telling me to do this and do that –"_

_"Be quiet!" Seto cried in a burst of bitterness._

_The dam wall cracked._

_Then crumbled._

_"You are always complaining! You don't understand! You are always getting everything…" The word rush out like raging water, uncontrollable, "All you talk about is your father this and your father that! You never stop! You are always complaining… Just… just…" His breath ragged, his voice was quiet, "Why is life so…" He looked up and was met by the guilt ridden expression on his friend._

_"I…" Kazuhiro began but Seto cut him off._

_"Just go," Seto muttered, suddenly weary, "Just go. I don't feel well. I want to be alone…" He closed his eyes and leaned back heavily on his chair. As the door softly closed behind his friend a memory resurfaced in his mind._

It was sunny.

It was warm.

On the comfortable laps of a faceless woman he sat. He knew who she was because of her melodic voice – his mother, it had to be her, it must be her. "God has given us a baby brother, Seto, now when he comes out, father and I will have to spend more time with him than you because..."

"Because he is a baby and he can't do anything. I know, I know, you said so many times before already. I will have to be nice to him, I won't be jealous," the four year old Seto said.

His mother smiled and hugged him. "Now where did you learn the word jealousy?"

"Newspaper. Someone died because of jealousy. It was so horrible," Seto replied with a little frown. His face was shining with innocence.

Once again his mother smiled. "People are not always smart when they are jealous. That's why, Seto, you should never ever be jealous…"

* * *

_It was quiet. _

_Too quiet._

_Neither talked as they wasted away their break time walking in endless circles around the school building, both were occupied in deep thoughts. With their meeting the day before still fresh in their minds neither knew what to say._

_Perhaps it was the guilt he felt, or perhaps it was the shame he felt after yesterday. In any case, he found himself overwhelmed in apprehension, as if something horrible would happen… He caught his thoughts and shook his head. When did he become a believer of intuition? He was just tired. Maybe he should just say something. Maybe he should just apologize. He should, but he could not, his pride would not allow him. Instead, he kept his eyes perfectly straight, never making eye contact with the boy beside him, just on the path in front._

_"Seto, about yesterday…" Kazuhiro sliced through the silence._

_He could feel his friend's anxious eyes looking at him expectantly. He wanted to look at his friend, he wanted to hug him, he wanted to reply, but once again his pride intervene and he continue looking forward._

_"I… I am sorry."_

_He wanted to say sorry back, but what came out was, "I was tired."_

_"I was complaining too much wasn't I?" There was a soft coughed before his friend continued faintly, his voice begging for Seto's forgiveness. "Seto… I…"_

_Something about in his friend's voice caught his attention, a suddenly wave of dread swept through him. He found himself scared as he turned and found in much relief that Kazuhiro was still standing next time to him staring at him guiltily. He let out his breath and laughed silently. "For a moment there I thought..." That was when he noticed something odd._

_Something was definitely wrong._

_There in the bush a dark figure holding a pistol. Somehow he managed to speak, "Hey…hey who is that?" Kazuhiro turned his head toward the gunman. A shot rang in the air. Time slowed. Fear… for the second time in the last minute he was scared. His mind told him to move, but his legs turned into stone. The bullet traveled, closer, closer, closer –_

_"Seto!" Kazuhiro cried, his voice frantic. He stepped forward, he pushed his friend back. His wide eyes met Seto's, fill with nothing but concern. For a moment his face froze before it contorted. He fell forward. Time resumed its normal speed._

_"Kazuhiro!" Seto screamed as he caught his friend. No reply. "Kazuhiro!"_

_For the final time the feeling of apprehension deepened. "Help!" Did he just step in and save him? "Help!" Was he shot because of him? "Someone help!" Will he die because of him?_

_In an instant a thick hysterical crowd formed around him. In another, the panicking principle and teachers arrived. Somehow Seto found himself between a couple of sobbing girls being pushed backward by a frantic teacher to give space for the paramedics who had seemingly appear in thin air._

* * *

He looked at the happy duo, both soaked by the water as Joey gave back the millennium puzzle to his friend. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could guess quite easily. Oddly enough, although they must have been cold, a strange warmth surrounded them. Then came a sharp and emotional shout, "Brother!" A girl of perhaps thirteen with bandage around her eyes ran toward her brother with Mai Valentine by her side. 

Seto watched silently as the siblings were reunited. He snorted. He turned to his own brother and saw the sparks of innocence in his eyes. He smiled inwardly. It seemed his brother had already forgotten how just a few moments before he was held hostage by two idiots. The idiots were promptly taken care of by Seto with the skills he acquired at the orphanage.

The orphanage… he liked that place – even when kids used to laugh at him for being brainy, even when bullies picked on him after school. Sometimes, he actually wanted to thank those people for teaching him lessons so essential for his life – especially these days when he had made more enemies than friends. He smiled again. Fighting bullies never acquired true strength; it required more quick thinking, good aim and good defence. His brother never knew, but had been stopped by bullies after school when they were at the orphanage. At first, he acquired huge bruises that would not fade for weeks on his shin and he would hide them with long pants but in half a year no bullies dared to touch him, nor did rest of the orphans. They were scared of him.

He had learned to fight back, and everyone realized he could fight back well.

He was untouchable.

But he was alsoalone.

Perhaps that was the answer to the unanswered question – everything came with a price. If you are kind then you may be hurt by the insecured. If you are generous, you may be tricked by the sly. If are you are smart, you may be hated by the jealous. If you have friends and enjoy the joy of companions you are prone to betrayal, prone to guilt when you betray them yourself.

Yugi had chosen friendship.

But for himself he had chosen solitude because for him the risk of betrayal wassimply too great.

* * *

Not the end.

* * *

Well… that was long wasn't it? Next chapter will be the last one. Now, between chapter seven and eight there will be a gap. My one shot called Vision of the Moon fills this gap.


	8. Potential Freedom

Disclaimer: Yugioh does not belong to the writer of this fanfiction.

* * *

**Chapter Eight – Potential Freedom**

* * *

He lost. 

There was not much to tell, except that he, the great Seto Kaiba, had once again lost to Yugi Motou. For him Battle City was over, there would be no more duels, no more reasons for him to stay. So he, after saying the few words his pride allowed him to say walked toward the elevator and prepared for departure. As the door of the elevator drew shut, his brother suddenly exclaimed, "Look Seto!"

Seto exerted himself so much as to give Yugi one last glance before the elevator doors slammed shut. He saw to his surprise Joey Wheeler standing elastically next to his victorious friend. From the way he stood, Seto knew he must have been there for some time, he was only too occupied with the duel to notice.

"Lucky survivor," Seto muttered, his voice apathetical.

The brothers fell silent. Amidst the comforting low hum given off by the elevator Seto found himself musing upon his lost, which although was hard to accept was not all together unexpected.

An unfamiliar nagging feeling told him early on that he may not win. No, it told him he _would_ not win. The statistics were also against him for zero to three was not a good record, but he had never been a believer of destiny, and he was not going to become a believer of fate just because of some intuition. Even now, even after his forth lost, if the occasion allows for another duel with Yugi, he would enter the duel with a most positive mindset.

The elevator came to a stop, the door slid open and he stepped out promptly, with Mokuba following closely behind. At the corner of his eyes he noticed that his brother abruptly stopped after a few steps and he looked back, curious. His brother was staring intensely straight ahead somewhere beyond him. Instinctively, Seto followed his brother's gaze.

Standing right in front of them was a young woman in white. He recognized her quite easily, she was Isis Ishtar.

* * *

Her eyes, Mokuba could not stop looking at her eyes. He knew it was not polite to stare at someone, but he couldn't help himself, it was as if there was something magical about those dark orbs that drew his attention. 

They were so mesmerizing, but they were also so sad. Even in his first acquaintance with this odd lady he thought a deep melancholy fog surrounded her. At this particular moment, he felt that the full extend of her sadness could not be express by words or by tears. Yet, as sad as they were, there was also unconquerable determination. It was not misplaced, because stubborn determination, like drowning sadness, was a part of her.

Mokuba quickly came to the conclusion that this meeting was no coincident. She was expecting them, no, she was waiting for them. His brother must had came to the same conclusion, because he too, stopped walking, and settled on staring at the lady in surprise.

She opened her mouth but no words came out, she closed it again and satisfied herself with just staring back at Seto. Mokuba smiled secretly, his brother seemed to have that effect on everyone. He fell victim to Seto's eyes too, whenever he wanted to discuss with Seto certain matters he knew Seto would not be too happy with. Always, before he could start, his brother's blue eyes would land on him and he would find himself lost with words, lost in a similar awkward silence that embraced them now.

Except of course, unlike those other times, he was not facing his brother, and unlike those times he had the power to break the silence. "Isis Ishtar," Mokuba spoke, giving the air life, giving the air momentum.

It was exactly what was needed to break the spell, Isis shot him a quick appreciative glance for returningher power of speech. "Malik's dark power is rising…" she muttered, perhaps more to herself than to anyone else.

She looked forward suddenly, careful not to look directly at Seto's eyes again. Her usual tranquil air finally returned to her, she spoke more coherently this time, "You must be thinking that even with his two God cards, there is no way for Yugi to win against Malik, the holder of the God of Ra."

Another awkward paused. For a moment Mokuba thought his brother would leave without giving an answer. Certainly that would not be the first time, he had often ignored people he thought not worthy to response. But the question involved those he cared about, and was asked by a woman who Mokuba respected even if their acquaintance is short. He wanted Seto to answer, and was about to force his brother to do so, except his brother answered without further encouragement.

"You are right," Seto replied bluntly, "thereare no ways Yugi can win. God of Ra is much too powerful." He took a second quick glance at Isis and snorted, no doubt because he read through Isis' mask and saw her true intentions. Mokuba knew.

His brother always had a talent for masks. Seto could read masks so well and wear them so perfectly. Sometimes it frightened Mokuba because he could never cover his emotion like his brother could, nor read masks the way his brother would. Because he could not help but question who his brother truly was: the over protective brother, the cold businessman, the determined rival or the merciless avenger? The lines between those four roles were ever fading. One day, he could not tell at all.

Seto continued impassively, "Not that any of that matter to me. For me, Battle City is over. No matter who wins this island will still sink to the bottom of the sea in two hours." Feeling Mokuba tensed behind him he quickly assured without looking back, "Don't worry, I will leave the battle ship here."

"Yugi needs your help," Isis insisted, her expression equally unreadable.

"Even now, you are still so foolishly persistent," Seto stated coldly, slightly irritated, "Are you trying to tell me more about those stupid millennium items of yours?" He paused and threw a sharp glance at Mokuba. "Let's go Mokuba, we still need to activate the bomb." He began to walk away.

"A blessing for the dead…" Her voice pierced through the tense silence.

Seto stopped dead in his track. Isis smiled at the reaction. "You remember the tablet," Isis continued, gaining confidence that Seto had lost, "It was a gift to a deceased friend, and the writer was the high priest."

Seto narrowed his eyes. "Shut up."

Mokuba looked up in surprise at his brother's out burst, for even when he was angry, his brother rarely showed his emotion. Clear emotion was a weakness, it showed others that one was offended, that one cared. Yet his brother was unmistakably angry now, perhaps a little scared too because his words were defensive rather than offensive. Mokuba wondered why, what Isis said was a little odd, but oddity should not make his brother up set. He stayed silent; however, it was not a time to ask questions.

"That tablet was what the high priest battling the pharaoh left behind, it was a blessing for the dead," Isis further explained after a few moment of silence.

His brother chuckled, and when he spoke again his voice was once again in its usual professional indifference, "What are you trying to suggest, Miss Ishtar? You know I have no interests in three thousand year old artefacts."

"Seto," Isis began. Mokuba noticed his brother flinch at his own name, obviously not used to the level of familiarity. Mokuba was the only one to call his brother by his first name since Gozaburo's death. For a moment he attributed the familiarity to Isis' lack of understanding of Japanese formalities, but when he looked into her eyes he decided that she knew perfectly what she was doing. "The God of Oblisk led you to host Battle City, but you know this tower is symbolic – It is the stage to Pharoh's battle for his soul soul."

Mokuba watched in amazement as his brother's face flared for the second time in the short meeting. "Pharaoh again? I suggest, Miss Ishtar, to be more careful with what you say oryou willregret too late." he threatened in a tone that would have caused almost anyone to withdraw, but Isis stood her ground and looked back at his brother in defiance.

Mokuba's astonishment and respect for Isis increased when she retorted, "It is a reflection of your heart." He admired her courage, but he also knew she was pushing the line. If years of experiment were not enough evidence to prove the latter, his brother flushed face and cold glare were. He trusted his brother not to strike a woman, but a balloon could only be blown so full before it pops.

"This battle tower is a meeting place for souls, and your own soul is the foundation of this holy tower - "

For a moment he thought he might be wrong about his brother never hitting girls. For a moment it really looked as if his brother would punch Isis for her poetic speech, but Seto was able to refrain himself from doing anything except to exclaim, "Well then, I will just sink this so call 'holy tower' down! Mokuba, we are activating the countdown for the bomb now!"

Mokuba swallowed hard. The tower was going down. His brother said he would leave the battle ship, but what would be the use of the ship if Yugi never got on? What if Yugi could not finish his duel in two hours? Then what? He looked into his brother's blue eyes. They were cold, frozen like hell. Hell… Yugi talked of a demon – hatred – what torments his brother, entraps him in the cycle of loneliness and unhappiness.

Yugi was right. He was wise. He was a good friend.

Yet hatred stood like a thick wall between them, his brother could never accept the friendship, and Yugi could never give something to someone unwilling to receive. Hatred, what this island symbolizes, the reason why this island must be destroyed, what had already destroyed the possibility of true happiness in the last five years of their life, the reason why his brother held on to his past atthe risk of hypocrisy.

"What's wrong? Let's go!" Seto demanded.

Mokubaknew how important hatred was to his brother, but Yugi… Yugi and his friends were innocent. Will he do nothing again and just watch hatred destroy more lives? He could feel tears inside his eyes. No, if a stranger like Isis could tell his brother a piece of her mind, he could do the same.

"Big brother…" He looked up to his brother. For a moment he found himself recoiling but remembering the way Isis spoke to his brother, he found courage to continue, "There is no point in pulling Yugi and his friends into our hate!"

His brother noticeably stiffened.

Mokuba assumed his speech, his voice barely above a whisper. "I… I hate them a lot too when I first met them... But even though they did not know me well, they risked their life saving me on Pegasus' island… they were like friends I… never… had…" tears gashed out of his eyes, he could no longer hold them back. His voice broke into sobs although he knew he should not cry. His brother never liked people who cry. Frantically, he tried to dry his face with his sleeves.

"Don't worry, Mokuba…" Seto lamely comforted, unsure of what to do. He was never good with emotion. "I will leave the blimp for them…"

Mokuba shook his head. His brother missed the point. It needed to go, the hatred that had eaten away so many years of his life. He had hated for so long. He needed to let go. Hatred… it was now or never. "Big brother! Promise me that when this tower sinks, your hate will sink with it!" Even before everything, his brother was never the happiest person in the world. He suffered much more than he ever did, Mokuba knew. But back then some smiles would reach his eyes. That was enough. That was all he wanted. "I want to see who you were before you hated…"

Please.

* * *

For a moment no one moved. Then, Seto started walking away again. 

"But big brother!" Mokuba exclaimed, his voice in utter dismay.

Seto narrowed his eyes, infuriated by his brother's concern for his rival. "Two hours are much more than enough for one duel. Let's go, Mokuba." He left no room for argument, it was a command.

"Yugi is going to lose," Isis said quietly. Her voice unlike Mokuba's was calm and composed. His legs froze. For the third time in five minutes he failed to leave the platform because of Isis Ishtar and her speech. He could not stand her. In a moment of epiphany, he finally realized the particular quality that he could not stand. It was her ability to be stubborn, to be able stand her ground, her ability to stay unreadable and his inability to keep himself unreadable in front of her. He hated her for that.

"He only has 3 chance of winning," He replied irritably, "Even with two God cards Yugi cannot win against Osiris's one turn kill ability." He could feel Isis eyeing him expectantly. He smirked at the thought of being the only one who could save Yugi in his up coming battle. "There is only one card that can stop Osiris and that card is inside my deck – Devil Sanctuary. And even if he has the card his chance of winning is only 20 percent."

He quickly turned toward Isis to see her expression. Would it be sadness? Would it be hopelessness? To his annoyance he found neither. In an attempt to provoke her he stated, "Isis, you joined Battle City just to rescue your brother Malik." His voice rises as he continued, almost accusingly, "If my deduction is correctly, you wanted to use some mysterious tools with foreseeing powers to defeat me – and then use your own hands to destroy Malik's alternate personality." Isis said nothing, Seto sneered cruelly, "Now that things turned this way, Your only hope is Yugi!"

He smiled when Isis finally reacted with a scowl. "Perhaps that is true," she responded, hardly able to keep her voice down to its usual tranquil quality. "But I am prepared for the worst." She avoided his gaze by looking down on the ground, her eyes filled with noticeable pain, for the first time in their acquaintances she looked resigned.

For a moment he felt guilt, but when the instant passed he found himself filled with a foreign feeling – understanding.

He knew she was willing to die if that could save her brother.

He threatened to suicide if Yugi would not let him win back then in Duellist City. That girl Tea had accused him of throwing away life, according to her 'the most precious thing in the world.' She called him foolish, that he did not know his priorities, but really she was the one who knew nothing. He was sure she was too witless to see the irony: he did everything because of his love for his brother. His brother was worth more than anything – they did not understand – but _this_ woman, Isis Ishtar, did.

For the first time in a long time he felt obligated to help someone for unselfish reasons.

He turned back toward the elevator.

It had been a very long time.

* * *

_"Is he going to wake up, doctor? Tell me the truth!" Kazuhiro's father asked, rather emotionally one day._

_"We don't know," the doctor replied grimly, "Maybe tomorrow, maybe never. There are similar cases where the blood clot in the patient's brain moves and the patient regain complete consciousness. But I cannot say exactly if that would be his case or not at this point."_

_Seto sucked in a deep breath behind the closed door. He had suspected so much for days, but actually hearing the doctor say this was a completely different thing._

_He came to the hospital everyday, it had become more or less a habit after a month. He straightened up and walked away. The men would be leaving the room at any moment and he did not want to be caught ear dropping. In any case, he did not want to see the father. He could not face him. The man seemed to have grown old over night, the twinkles in his eyes were and his charismatic manners were gone along with his son. He was a whole different man since the incident._

_It was his fault. Seto knew every well. No one openly blamed him for what had happened, but he was responsible. He knew the sniper was aiming at him and if he had snapped out of shock, he could have easily saved his friend. He had the time. He saw the bullet coming. He could have pushed Kazuhiro away, just as Kazuhiro pushed him away. He could have… but he did not._

_He hastily turned the corner, behind him, he could hear the door open and two pairs of footsteps. Mr. Hashimoto blew his nose. "Thank you, doctor," his altered voice was unbearable._

_He quickened his pace. Turning another corner, he found himself approaching Kazuhiro's room. He wanted to pause, but he did not, knowing Mr. Hashimoto must be also coming that way. Instead, he settled for a quick glance and saw amidst the countless tubes and wires lay Kazuhiro, still motionless._

_"I was complaining too much wasn't I? Seto… I…" Kazuhiro had said, moments before he was pushed him out of harms way. Moments before the sniper opened fire. He never verbally accepted his apology, he realized. Did Kazuhiro think he was still angry at him when the bullet hit? He might have._

_He had every reason to._

_

* * *

He did not sleep well anymore._

_The moment he found sleep he was troubled with the same reoccurring nightmare. Kazuhiro was always there, only a few meters away. Seto would always try to run toward him, but he could never reach him because each step he takes Kazuhiro would recede a step back. When he called his name, his friend would not listen. He would only stare blankly ahead, through him, as if he could not see him._

_Silently, Seto manoeuvred himself through the labyrinth of corridors connecting his bedroom to the computer lab. He sank deeply into the leather seat and logged onto the mainframe of Kaiba Corporation as he did every night in the last two months. Ever since the incident he stopped playing video games because they reminded him of too much of the sniper. He did not have any reasons to surf the mainframe either, but that was a safe activity sufficient to distract him from thinking. In the beginning, he only surfed aimlessly, but two weeks into this routine he stumbled on Kaiba corporation's employees records. Ever since then every time he logged on he skimmed the records. So far he gotten through A-R, tonight he would start on S._

_Click, read, scroll, read, scroll, return, click, read, scroll, read, scroll… He read each name under S methodically, bored until he finally reached a name he recognized: Saitou, Gozaburo's right hand man. He decided to read about the man as carefully as he read the records of every other person he recognized. For a long time none of the information caught his attention. He learned nothing more than customary facts like Mr. Saitou was 37, unmarried, lived in a penthouse in downtown Tokyo, and a graduate of an American university majoring in commerce._

_Things became more interesting when Seto ventured into his banking history. For someone who had never spent more than five thousands US per month, Mr. Saitou spent a lot of money in the last three months. The whooping eighty thousand US spent caught Seto's attention. The most interesting fact was that the money was all transferred to one personal account, not to a company account as would be fitted for such expense. No, Mr. Saitou was definitely not buying a car, or a house, or a machine, or a company or anything. For the sake of something to do, Seto "researched," into the recipient's account._

_Of everything he expected, he did not expect to find the account to be frozen._

_Nor did he expect to find it frozen under the order of the US federal government._

_How curious was that. His interest grew with the hours he spent conducting "research" on the owner of the frozen account. Something was not right about the owner, he knew even before he found out anything. Information about him was kept under way too much security. The level of mystery surrounded the man pushed him to continue the research all through the night. Nothing had fascinated him so much for a long time._

_The next morning he called in sick for school. He skipped breakfast, then lunch, ate a rice ball for dinner, until finally he found something at around nine that night._

_His eyes widen. He could not believe what he was reading, so he read it again._

_Four days ago, the owner of the account was arrested for seven counts of first degree murder, six counts of assault, and illegal ownership of weapons. More charges were pending. The man was a killer for hire._

_A chill ran down Seto's back as the truth unfolded in front of his eyes._

_

* * *

It was spring again, eleven months after the tragic incident. Anyone who met Seto again after seeing Seto before the incident would find the boy greatly altered. For one, he became much more withdrew from the rest of the school, at break and lunch he always kept to himself inside the classroom with his computer. His classmates learned to keep away from him. The few who did not ended up transferring schools within a week. He rarely spoke, and when he did it was either to answer the teachers' questions, or to give instructions to the workers at Kaiba Corporation._

_He held a much colder countenance, he rarely smiled, and when he did it was only because of the success of his latest project. His school work excelled even quicker than before. When the school principle suggested him to skip two grades, Seto quickly agreed. He skipped another grade three months after that. To the satisfaction of Gozaburo, Seto's work attitude had also greatly improved. He was a lot more dedicated to the company, and contributed so much to the company's venue that even Gozaburo had to crack a smile._

_The more Seto became involved with work, the more indifferent he became of the world around him, especially the world concerning his brother. No longer did he get jealous of Mokuba for his special treatments from Gozaburo. No longer did he answer to his brother calls for stories. No longer did he fall for his brother pleading eyes for trips to the park or a game of chess. When Mokuba played soccer in the house again and broke another window, Seto stood and watched unfeelingly at Gozaburo's staff being slapped down on his brother's palm._

_But there was one thing that never changed that year._

_He never stopped visiting Kazuhiro, who had moved from intensive care to a private room five months after the incident. Each day the young Kaiba would arrive at the hospital at 3:15 sharp. So accustomed was the hospital staffs to Seto's visit that they learned to keep any treatment or examination sessions before or after the time slot 3:15-3:45. Mr. Hashimoto in turn learned to never visit his son during that time. It was an arrangement that benefited both side since neither could stand the look of each other for different reasons. Mr. Hashimoto could not forgive the teenager. Seto could not forgive himself._

_Then, six days before the incident's one year anniversary, something changed._

_That day, to the amazement of the doctors, and to the utter joy of both his father and his friend, Kazuhiro woke up._

_

* * *

He heard the news at one o'clock during a monthly reflection conference._

_When he heard the news he dropped the report he was reading, and left without a look at the confused staffs waiting for his approval to the report. Overwhelmed by happiness, he took a few unsteady steps around his office, called his ride, and rushed out of the skyscraper, his mind hardly able to process a comprehensible thought._

_In the car, he ordered his driver to stop by a newspaper stand, and a sweet shop. He thought his friends should catch up with current news while enjoying his favourite chocolate. The smile that became so rare in the last year stayed on his face the whole time._

_Upon his arrival, he opened the door of the car before the car stopped completely, grabbed his gifts and stumbled out of the car in a most unsightly manner. When the elevator door did not open immediately after he pressed the button, Seto ripped open the doors to the stairs. He ran up to third floor, skipping every other step, to where Kazuhiro lived in the last year._

_Consumed by adrenalin, Seto could hardly breathe when he reached the outside of this friend's room. He laughed at his nervousness, forced his breath to slow before pushing open the door. "Kazuhiro!"_

_Mr. Hashimoto's dark eyes instantly met his. The smile on either face faltered slightly. Seto gave a slight bow. "I heard Kazuhiro woke up."_

_Mr. Hashimoto nodded stiffly, but motioned Seto to come in. Seto readily comply. He ran to his friend's sitting, not sleeping, form. "Kazuhiro," he repeated, hardly believing his eyes. A few rebellious tears of joy escaped his eyes. "I can't believe you are awake!"_

_Silence._

_Seto frowned in confusion. Did his friend not hear him? "Kazuhiro I brought you…" He broke off when he saw Kazuhiro's confused and almost scared expression. His eyes lacked any recognition._

_"Who is he, father?" the patient asked, wide eyes and frighten._

_Silence._

_"A friend," Mr. Hashimoto replied. Standing up to meet Seto's height, he explained in with a knowing whisper, "He had lost his recent memories."_

_"How much…"_

_"From preliminary testing, it seems he lost all memories after he turned ten."_

_"So to him I…" Seto could not finish the sentence._

_"Don't exist," Mr. Hashimoto completed the sentence or him. He gave Seto a genuine smile of compassion and understanding. Then his hand reached up, hesitated, before resting comfortingly on Seto's shoulder. It was the first kind gesture to the boy since the incident, a sign of good will and forgiveness. "I am sorry, boy."_

_Seto did not move away. He was too drained, way too drained._

_

* * *

Three weeks later, Kazuhiro walked out of the hospital and breathed fresh air for the first time since more than a year. Under Mr. Hashimoto's invitation, Seto went to the hospital one more time._

_"We are leaving for America tomorrow," Mr. Hashimoto after their initial greetings._

_For some reasons the news did not surprise Seto. He looked evenly at Kazuhiro's father. "Will it be permanent?"_

_"Yes, Kazuhiro can get better treatments there, and I would like a change of environment." The father turned to glance at his son sitting a few meters away. Seto turned as well. For a moment, they both watched the teenager playing with a dog in silence._

_Finally, Seto looked away. "I understand."_

_"We better get going then, we are still not finished packing." Mr. Hashimoto exclaimed suddenly, "Kazuhiro, come say good bye to Seto."_

_Slightly reluctant, Kazuhiro left the dog to join his father. "Good bye, Seto."_

_"Good bye, Kazuhiro." His impenetrable eyes turned to the father. "Good bye, Mr. Hashimoto," he said softly and extended his hand, Mr. Hashimoto gave it a strong shake._

_"Good bye. I hope you would meet success what ever you do. I am sorry our relationship had not been better in the last year."_

_"It is quite alright," Seto sighed, his voice distant._

_A heavy feeling rushed over him as Seto watched the black limousine disappear into the sea of traffic. Although he knew of his friend's situation for three weeks, it was not until then that the lost of a precious friend truly hit him._

_Emptiness was all consuming._

_

* * *

To all the eyes of the world, at fifteen, Seto Kaiba was a prodigy excelling both in the field of technology and business. His creation and marketing of his widely successful war simulation technology had won him the position of Director of Research as well as Vice-presidency in Kaiba Corporation. Simultaneously, he was also completing his forth year in university, double majoring in commerce and computer science. He kept to himself most of the time, but when he spoke his voice was one of authority that could convince anyone to his side. Those who never heard him speak called him reserved, but those who had the privilege hear him speak called him a brilliant public speaker._

_Perhaps the greatest show of his intelligence was his ability to hide his intentions and ambitions despite his natural abilities. To most, he appeared to be nothing more than a puppet controlled by Gozaburo. To others, he was a cocky teenager who enjoyed spiting Mr. Saitou, so much that they thought he had a personally vendetta against the man. To still others, he was a dedicated scientist, extremely knowledgeable especially in the field of virtual reality. Only the most observant could see his true desire, and even then they could only catch a glimpse._

_But Seto's ambitions were not to be hidden forever, not at all._

_

* * *

It was a humid warm day, one of those highly uncomfortable days that give you the feeling you are inevitably trapped in the meaningless cycles in life. To worsen his day, there were rumours, unpleasant rumours, much to his distaste._

_Roughly throwing down the business magazine, Gozaburo fumed. 'Economic experts anticipate power shifts in Kaiba Corporation to the young heir.' What was the meaning of that? It was true that eventually the corporation would be handed down to the boy, but that was after his death. He definitely had no desire to release the rein just yet._

_He tried to explain to the media his intensions, but no matter how many times he denies the rumours, they kept on coming. This was highly unsettling. It was with this in mind that he called for a meeting with all major share holders. He would ensure their loyalty to himself. If Seto had influence over those men now, he would have no influence over them after the meeting. Gozaburo would make sure of that._

_Walking into the meeting room, he found the major share holders seated at the two sides of the long table and Seto seated at the far end. The share holders were whispering among themselves. Seto was looking intensely at his laptop screen. At the sight of Kaiba Corporation's CEO, the mutterers quieted, and their eyes steadied on the newcomer. Seto slowly lifted his head from his laptop and stared unsettlingly at Gozaburo, smiling an unnerving smile, one that a predator would give to his prey before his hunt._

_Gozaburo gave an involuntary shudder. He opened his mouth to greet the men but found his throat impossibly dry. He cleared his throat nervously and finally found his voice, "Good afternoon, gentlemen."_

_The shareholders nodded coolly. Gozaburo frowned. When did they begin to act so unrespectable around him?_

_He looked to Seto. "Good afternoon, Mr. Kaiba," the teenager greeted. "Would you enlighten us on your intentions for calling such an urgent meeting?" the youth asked, the vampire grin still on his face._

_An alarm sounded in Gozaburo's mind instantly, he knew that tone, it was the tone of false ignorance, a tool he used in his younger years to get ahead. "I am sure with your intelligence, my son, you have long figured out my intentions," he said in a low growl._

_Seto continued his act of fake innocence, "Oh but I did not, Mr. Kaiba, do tell us."_

_Gozaburo could feel his temper rising, but he managed to suppress it. He would not let the boy win, he thought to himself with an inward grin. He would show the boy he was a thousand years too young for the game he was trying to play. "Rumours, gentleman, unpleasant rumours have reached my ears about the instability of our company leadership. I want to end those rumours today with this meeting."_

_"And what sort of rumours are you talking about, Mr. Kaiba?" one of the share holders asked humorously, as if finding something extremely funny. A few of the men chuckled at the comment._

_Gozaburo gave an indignant frown. "The false rumours concerning the possible power shift—" This time all share holders laughed. Gozaburo looked at them lost with words, perplexed. A secret joke?_

_"Mr. Kaiba, you look rather lost, perhaps it is time for us to bring you up to schedule…" The man next to him enlightened him, his lips tilted into a thin wry smirk. "You see, Mr. Kaiba, those 'rumours' as you put it, were planted by us."_

_"You---"_

_The man sitting a few seats down interrupted him, "But they are hardly rumours, Mr. Kaiba, they are more educated speculations made by all of us, predictions, so to speak. Because as much as you would like to deny it…" He stood up and walked toward Seto Kaiba. "Power had already shifted in the company."_

_One by one the share holders stood up took their symbolic walk toward Seto Kaiba. Gozaburo could only stare in horror._

_On the other side of the table, the grin on Seto's face grew larger. He stayed silent until all men stood next to him. Then, he spoke, softly, calculatingly, mercilessly, "From today on, Kaiba Corporation is mine." His haughty eyes never broke contact with the Gozaburo's purified ones. "This is a game you have taught me, and clearly, father, I have won."_

_There in front of his eyes everything he had worked so hard on building in the last thirty years dissolved into nothingness. Everything came to nothing. It was all a chasing after the wind. His life was meaningless, completely meaningless. Somehow, this sounded extremely funny in his mind. Gozaburo laughed hysterically. "Seto! You are right, you have won. I have lost."_

_Oh if only he did not choose him, a boy so smart, so understanding, so knowing, a boy so different than any other boys. He should have killed him when he had the chance, but he did not. He held on to the foolish hope that the boy could be controlled… until Saitou, faithful Saitou, took the matter in his own hands. But it all went wrong. No one had anticipated the depth of the friendship between Seto and Kazuhiro, no one had anticipated anyone would trade his life so that Seto could live. In the end, the guilty lived and the innocent suffered._

_He had underestimated him, Gozaburo realized too late. It was his single mistake, but the most deadly mistake. He shook his head and laughed again. "The winner takes all. And the loser loses all. This is our game all along, isn't it? The chess game you and I played since day one. You have won and I will not beg. I will be a good loser and step down from the game stage…heheheheeheehehahahahah---"_

_He pushed himself through the class window behind him and let himself fall._

_Above, the new CEO looked on in disinterest with cruel eyes, the jeering smile never left his face._

* * *

He had his revenge long ago, he knew. 

Gozaburo was long dead, long cemented, long buried. Mr. Saitou was worst than dead. He had stripped the man of his every belongings, his integrity, his confidence, his position in society, his mere identity. He had stripped the man of everything except for his life so that he can taste his punishment by full.

But in the end, nothing seemed to be accomplished at all by revenge. In the end, his heart remained as empty as it was when Kazuhiro departed.

He thought revenge was the only way to execute the justice he seeks. Nothing was ever free, that was the universal rule he had lived by. Disappointment is the price for Hope. Betrayal is the price for love. Exploitation is the price for kindness. Sin is the price for knowledge. For a long, he assumed emptiness was the price for justice.

And there was no reason for him to question that assumption until now.

Yugi won, because he, Seto Kaiba, had decided out of his own free will to go out of his ways to help him. As a result, Malik, Isis and Rashid were also reunited.

Their reunion was almost a mirror of what his reunion with Mokuba had been at the end of Duellist Kingdom. He understood them, after all, how can he not? The raw emotions in their eyes were too familiar for comfort. He did not smile, but although he would never admit it, he was inwardly happy for them.

But there were more than happiness.

The scene also brought to him some foreign feelings he had not felt for a long time: the satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment, the pride that come with being a human being who has accomplished a good deed, a deed devoid of selfish intents.

Perhaps this was what people meant when they talk about feeling fulfilled.

Perhaps this was what people meant when they talk about friendship.

He looked at Yugi Motou, the one who had hurt his pride more than once, and then at Isis Ishtar, the one whom life's view he could not stand. Of all the people in the world, these two people had showed him a road other than revenge. For that he could not deny life works in a rather magical and mysterious way.

Perhaps there is hope yet.

He could not conceive the possibility of him becoming who he once was before everything as Mokuba wished. He could not imagine himself being kind to everyone around him, or holding true to a strict set of moral while smiling genuinely. Perhaps that is impossible.

But perhaps, an option did exist all along and Mokuba's wishes were feasible. Perhaps, he is simply blind to the way.

He could not make any promises. But he would take the first step toward that possibility and build the theme parks of his childhood dream.

And wait for the day when he would finally see.

For now, that would have to do.

* * *

The End

* * *

I can't believe I actually finished A Gifted Child. 

I truly thought I would never pick it up again after losing my interest in Yugioh. But a few reviewers have pushed me to finish this. Special thanks to Ilvryn E, and Silver Fantasy, they reviewed my story this month, and their reviews made me feel obligated to put an end to this madness. And big hugs to Setobsessed (I hope you are reading this) you have read my story from the beginning, and writing this last chapter, I cannot help but remember how flattered I was by all of your reviews and emails.

Farewell to all.


End file.
